Middlesex University Research Repository · 2019. 4. 3. · Zehra Altınay A project submitted to...
Transcript of Middlesex University Research Repository · 2019. 4. 3. · Zehra Altınay A project submitted to...
Middlesex University Research RepositoryAn open access repository of
Middlesex University research
http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk
Altinay, Zehra (2012) Implementing constructivist approach into online course designs inDistance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University. DProf thesis, Middlesex
University. [Thesis]
This version is available at: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/9056/
Copyright:
Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically.
Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright ownersunless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gainis strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or studywithout prior permission and without charge.
Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, orextensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtainingpermission in writing from the copyright holder(s). They may not be sold or exploited commercially inany format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s).
Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including theauthor’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag-ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and thedate of the award.
If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact theRepository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address:
The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated.
See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy
Middlesex University Research Repository: an open access repository of
Middlesex University research
Altinay, Zehra, 2012. Implementing constructivist approach into online course designs in Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University. Available from Middlesex University’s Research Repository.
Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this thesis/research project are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Any use of the thesis/research project for private study or research must be properly acknowledged with reference to the work’s full bibliographic details. This thesis/research project may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from it, or its content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated.
Implementing Constructivist Approach
into Online Course Designs in
Distance Education Institute at
Eastern Mediterranean University
Zehra Altınay
A project submitted to Middlesex University in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctorate in Professional Studies
National Centre for Work Based Learning Partnerships
Middlesex University
June 2010
ii
ABSTRACT
Change and development in work settings for better working practice through
projects has become essential. My work-based research has a significant role to
contribute innovative practice of Distance Education Institute at Eastern
Mediterranean University (EMU) by European University Association (EUA)
norms. The research is aimed to investigate implementing constructivist
approach into online course designs to develop learning and skills of the online
students based on teamwork inspiration within the institute. Action research
approach was employed in this qualitative research in order to provide insights
on how to prepare and design online courses based on the constructivist
approach. Training, in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, focus group,
research diary and semi-structured interviews, self-report based on scaling were
employed as data collection techniques to gather large amount of data from
online tutors, students and core members of institute in relation to their
collaborative efforts and experiences within the process. Furthermore,
triangulated data was analyzed based on content analysis in this inductive
journey. The results revealed that members and the tutors had no prior
knowledge and experience on team work culture and the principles of
constructivist approach into online course designs. As a result of this research
process, team work culture was developed within the institute through
participatory action research process. In this respect, implementing constructivist
approach into online course designs based collaborative efforts and synergy
power of the tutors developed reasoning, critical thinking, team work,
communication skills of students. My project supported the quality
improvements in online education practices within higher education institution.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Chapter I: Introduction
The Value of Contextualizing in My Work based Research Project
Significance of My Work based Research Project and My Role
Focus of My Work based Research Project
Aim of the Work Based Research Project
Products and Outcomes of My Work based Research Project
Chapter II: Research Aim and Objectives, Terms of Reference,
Research Statement and Questions
Introduction
Aim and Objectives of My Work based Research Project
Term of Reference
Team Work Culture in Working Practices
Constructivist Approach to Online Course Design
The Role of Constructivist Approach in Learning and Developing
Skills
Discussion
Research Statement and Research Questions
ii
iii
vii
viii
ix
1
1
5
7
12
13
15
15
15
17
17
22
26
29
33
iv
Chapter III: Research Methodology
Introduction
Chosen Research Design: Qualitative Research Journey
Approach Chosen for My Work based Research Project
The Sample Selection, Gaining and Maintaining Access
My Role as Insider in the Research Process
Ethical Considerations
Choice of Data Collection Techniques
Issue-Focused In-depth Interview Technique
Semi-structured Interviews
Documentary Analysis
Focus Group
Self-Report
Researcher Diary
Data Analysis and Triangulation
Concluding Remarks
Chapter IV: Project Activity
Introduction
My Work-based Research Project
Getting Started
My Research Journey
Self Appraisal on Action Research
Chapter V: Presentation of Research Findings
Introduction
Presentation of Research Findings
36
36
36
39
47
48
53
58
60
61
62
62
63
64
66
74
76
76
76
78
79
96
99
99
100
v
Creating Team Work Culture in My Working Practice
Principles of Constructivist Approach in Online Courses
Implementing Constructivist Approach into Online Course Designs
Outcome of Implementing Constructivist Approach into Online Course
Designs
Evaluation of the Efficiency of My Research Project
Conclusion
Chapter VI: Conclusions and Recommendations
Introduction
Discussions on Research Outcomes
Some Analytical Generalizations
Major Implications
Chapter VII: Critical Reflection on Research Journey
Introduction
Reflections on Research Focus and Method
Professional Knowledge and Practice
References
Appendices
A. European University Association Report
B. Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form
C. In-Depth Interview Questions
D. Trainings
E. Feedback Forms
F. Semi-Structured Interview Questions to Online Tutors
G. Checklist to Analyze Course Designs of Online Tutors
100
105
110
113
119
122
123
123
123
127
130
132
132
133
136
143
165
166
187
189
190
200
202
203
vi
H. Group Interviewing (Focus Group) Questions
I. Semi-Structured Interview Questions to Online Tutors
J. Self-Report based on Scaling to Online Students
K. Semi-Structured Interview Questions to Online Students
L. Feedback Forms about Project Evaluation
M. Abbreviations
Evidences of Achievement
List of Evidences
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Action research Cycle
Figure 2. Justification of Chosen Research Approach with Its Stages
Figure 3. Inductive Process by Action Research: Justification of Data
Collection Techniques
Figure 4. Triangulating Data
Figure 5. My Research Journey
43
45
65
74
79
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table I. The Evaluation on Team Work Dimension
Table II. Analysis of Constructivist Principles
Table III. Principles of Constructivist Approach: Learning Activities
and Skills
103
109
119
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My work based research project in Doctorate in Professional Studies Programme
is prepared with my rigors as worker researcher, valuable guidance and support
of my supervisor, Dr. David Officer, my consultants, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık
Aybay, Prof. Dr, Aytekin İşman for better institutional practice in my work
place. It is the enjoyable and at the same time helpful, brilliant journey that I
have gained personal and professional development. I would like to thank to all
my family, especially little Gülay and Hüseyin Altınay for their morale support
for my academic success. Also, many thanks to institute members who showed
good performance in participatory action research for better working practice.
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Value of Contextualizing in My Work based Research Project
The “context” of the research is the critical success factor in carrying out work based
projects. In order to understand the value of my project, the context of my research and
the indicators of the cultural elements within society which affect the process need to
be described. Contextualization is thus the first step in my work based project.
North Cyprus is only one part of a small island. It has a small developing community
in which political, social and economical conflicts have arisen. These conflicts affect
groups of individuals and decrease the morale of the community, which may result in
resistance to change or innovation.
This in turn may create research difficulties. In a small community experiencing
conflicts and instabilities in every aspects of life, education becomes a major tool to
help this community to catch up with global standards and diffuse change and
innovation.
Therefore, having seven international higher education institutions within such a small
community is significant evidence that the community gives importance to education
in order to compete according to global standards, expand economic growth and create
employment.
Nowadays, there is a transformation process through action plans within the education
system in order for it to be decentralized, democratic and global. In this process, higher
education institutions have a great role play in activating change and innovation
through action plans.
2
Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) was established in 1979 and is the oldest,
largest, and most modern university on the island of Cyprus. It has students from sixty
eight countries. This represents a diversity of cultures and is a major indicator of
university policy. EMU seeks to develop international, global education policies based
on regulations of the Higher Education Council in Turkey and the European University
Association.
By its 25th
year, EMU had graduated more than 16000 students, and currently has a
student enrolment of approximately 15,000 and about 650 academic faculty and staff
representing 35 nationalities.
Over the last 25 years, the campus infrastructure has been completed, and the
University’s grounds and facilities have grown to cover an area of 2200 acres, with
buildings or enclosed spaces of 200,000m2. These buildings include offices,
classrooms, 90 laboratories for scientific and technological development, a modern
library, health centre, and residence halls. The grounds also include excellent sports
facilities.
The university’s academic structure comprises 7 Faculties and 3 Schools, offering 28
four-year degree programs and 12 two-year associate degree programs at the
undergraduate level, and 21 Master’s and 13 Doctoral programs at the graduate level,
for all of which diploma equivalency has been granted by the Ministries of Education
of nine countries including Turkey.
Vision of EMU
The overall framing vision of EMU is one of commitment:
� Inspiring and educating students to become critical thinkers and
autonomous individuals and personalities who will contribute to the
3
development of their societies on the basis of knowledge, ethical and
professional responsibility, open-mindedness and personal integrity
� To promote cultural diversity and understanding both in the university
and in society
� To contribute to the welfare of society and to sustainable development
and peaceful coexistence in the region
� Playing a proactive role in the economic, social, and cultural development
of the country by according the greatest priority to academic freedom and
achieving the highest standards in education and research
� Being a democratic, transparent and autonomous institution.
Mission and Goals
The primary mission and goals are to increase distinction in teaching and research in
our region by working actively in the following areas:
� To offer an academic environment that attracts and retains a highly
qualified and diverse body of students and faculty regardless of their
ideological, political, cultural and social backgrounds
� To create a stimulating intellectual environment that fosters values of
respect, empathy, and ethical responsibility
� To encourage the participation of all the university’s members and their
organizations in the formulation of its short-term and long-term policies
� To provide an environment in which its members can pursue reasoned
analysis and engage in critical thinking, and to make a conscious effort to
encourage diversity while uniting the university’s staff and students in
pursuing the core values of a university: acquiring, creating, and applying
knowledge
4
� To strive to be an institution which is transparent in its decisions and
activities and which efficiently implements its programs and policies
� To develop close relationships with and provide knowledge, services and
technology to all communities in the broader Mediterranean region
without bias
� To make intense academic and social efforts to initiate, support and
encourage solutions for environmental protection in Cyprus and in the
broader Mediterranean region
Educational Philosophy
As an institution of higher learning, EMU’S purpose is to develop and establish a
dynamic and creative international environment in which teaching and research are
conducted at the highest standards.
Students are the foundation of a university. It is therefore essential for a philosophical
shift to take place within the university, so that it becomes “student-centred.” EMU is
trying to develop new approaches to teaching and learning to serve an increasingly
multicultural student population both inside and outside the classroom. This means
that curricula need to be reconsidered carefully to consider whether an appropriate and
effective education is being provided for students which will enable them to learn for
themselves and compete in the modern world.
Global economic conditions demand that graduating students have attained not only a
university degree and both specialized and general knowledge, but also high
adaptation skills for the workplace and that they have become critical, democratic,
self-confident and enthusiastic team players, educated in a variety of fields, with the
potential to make positive contributions to the progress of society. Producing
5
competitive graduates who can meet the increasingly complex human resource needs
of the 21st century is the responsibility of the university.
(http://www.emu.edu.tr/mevzuat/Eng-Rules05/administration/str-plan.doc)
1.2 Significance of My Work based Research Project and My Role
EMU is in the Bologna process and is being evaluated by the European Universities
Association (EUA) in order to increase the quality in educational practice. The EUA
reports on research activities and distance education practices, major tools through
which the university can expand its capacity and realize the quality vision. The EUA
reported on research activities at EMU as follows:
“Research objectives should be part of the university
strategic plan, thus defining the areas where research efforts
should be concentrated. This would mean a clear set of
priorities that should also take into account the modalities
by which research cross fertilises the educational process. Such priorities should be based on EMU's own expertise,
criteria and needs. The university can count on many
distinguished professors who have gained experience abroad
at top quality institutions and publish in high-level
international journals. EMU should help develop synergies
between the members of that pool of experts by fostering
collaboration between different departments in order to
engineer a critical mass in research focused on priority
areas, whose strength could be reinforced by targeted
recruitment of new research collaborators with the support
of central administration in so far as these priorities
underline the specificity of the institution's profile of
activities” (EUA Report; 2007:29).
The report underlines the significance of my work based project within the institution
in terms of departmental improvement. The EUA reports on distance education
practices as follows:
“Bologna process offers universities new opportunities to
further genuine inter-faculty collaboration by developing
new interdisciplinary Masters programmes, a chance for
building a community of belonging that EMU should not
forego. Bologna also stresses the importance of distance
education and e-learning: using such tools for training
could alleviate EMU's problems with the rapid increase of
6
student numbers it has witnessed over the last few years.
Such a policy could and should play a key role in
developing a lifelong learning culture at EMU and in the
region” (EUA Report; 2007:28).
In addition, the report underlined that the EMU Distance Education Institute needs to
be improved as it could provide a competitive advantage to the university. In this
respect, various research projects within the institute need to be undertaken to improve
institutional practice (See Appendix A, p.166). Therefore, the EUA report confirmed
that experts in the field of distance education who are the part of the institute as
worker researchers need to conduct work based projects to drive forward change and
innovation.
I am a senior instructor in both the Educational Sciences Department and Distance
Education Institute. I have an educational background in distance education practice,
am aware of work context problems, and as both worker and researcher in the field, I
am developing my knowledge and experience through involvement in international
projects, conferences and associations. This background should enable me to carry out
my work based project in a strategic and efficient manner, as should a knowledge of
how to conduct research within a small community. I believe I also bring to my dual
role the ability to self-reflect, sensitivity to ethics, responsibility and intellectual
flexibility within the research process, critical analysis and negotiation skills, and the
ability to manage both learning and resources.
In this regard, I have put both effort and dedication into my project. The project is
based on participatory action research to improve online course design based on a
constructivist approach within the Distance Education Institute at EMU. This is a
milestone for better working practice and a challenging research journey for both my
personal and professional development.
7
1.3 Focus of My Work Based Research Project
To succeed in the competitive higher education market, there is a critical need to set
strategies and action plans for reaching global standards based on the EUA’s
requirements. Improving institutional quality and performance helps establish a
learning climate, which in turn will help in the development of niche services.
Distance education practices provide a method which can expand learner capacity and
help develop the quality standards that will provide a competitive advantage (Go´mez
et al., 2007).
Regarding global standards and competitiveness in higher education, institutions need
to attend to organisational vision and integrate distance education practices into their
mission as part of an innovative approach to strategy. Hence, change oriented action
plans delivered through staff collaboration and commitment to develop institutional
performance are essential.
As distance education institutes become measures of quality in the effort to gain
competitive advantage in higher education, both pedagogical and organizational
elements of distance education need to be considered. Commitment and collective
understanding of the necessity for better working practice is a priority within distance
education institutes if they are to meet a vision of quality improvements and
competitiveness (McPherson and Nunes, 2006). In this respect, my project examines
how the core members of a distance education institute act together in decision making
processes to develop quality improvements in a higher education institution.
Kaya (2002) provides in-depth insights about applications in the Turkish higher
education system and internationally of distance education practices. Distance
education practices are a new phenomenon in the Turkish higher education system
8
with their dual mode systems in which both online and traditional programs are
delivered.
Although dual mode universities in Turkey and North Cyprus integrate distance
education practices, to date performance records and evidence of strategic planning
which could demonstrate their success are not available.
The Distance Education Institute at EMU was established in 2000 and was the first
institute in North Cyprus to introduce e-learning. The institute is attached to the
Academic Affairs Office and is staffed by one director, one technical staff member
and twenty three tutors providing online courses to students on and off the campus.
The institute delivers: 1. Online courses on campus, 2. A Two year diploma program
in Information Management by distance learning. Five tutors for online courses, four
tutors for online course support and fourteen tutors for the two-year distance education
diploma program from different departments have served the institute to date.
In the 2008-2009 Academic Year, during which my work based project was
conducted, the Institute provided only online courses within the campus. Because of
legal and infrastructure problems within the institute, it could not provide the distance
education diploma program or dynamic online course support courses. Although there
were problems, there were also initiatives to open and develop new online courses
within the campus and a masters degree diploma program in the Tourism and
Hospitality Management Department.
Although the university had eight years of experience in dual mode, its distance
education mode needed a change oriented action plan to meet the recommendations of
the EUA report and bring working practice in line with the quality vision. The EUA
report confirmed the worldwide reality that distance education institutes are milestones
for change and innovation in higher education institutions. In addition, the report
9
indicated that work based projects have a major role to play in improving the institute
in such aspects as commitment and collaboration within the Institute and in online
course design.
Therefore, my work based project examines the role of team work in implementing a
constructivist approach to online course design, and how this approach can improve
online learning, impact on better working practice, increase institutional quality, meet
the standards of EUA and thus contribute to better working practice in higher
education more generally.
For higher education institutions to survive in a competitive world, customer focus and
process management is crucial (Temponi, 2005). This process needs to simultaneously
include people, equipment, supplies, materials, and producers. In this respect,
assessing the relevance of programs in relation to customer focus and process
management and within the framework of the European Higher Education Area is
essential for innovation and quality improvements (Go´mez et al., 2007).
Higher education institutions have thus had little choice but to propose various
research projects in order to improve performance based on alternative strategies and
plans to ensure quality and build a sustainable reputation.
Distance education has become a strategic innovation for gaining a competitive
advantage and dual mode practice a method for not only improving quality but for
market development and expansion. (McPherson and Nunes, 2006). My own
institution has thus paid considerable attention to online education as a market
strategy. This underlines the significance of my work based project for better working
practice.
As student learning is the ultimate reason why higher education exists, it is important
to know how to define, assess, and improve student learning in multiple ways. In this
10
respect, distance education has become a popular alternative strategy to develop
quality. However, as online education and management systems are a new
phenomenon, it is important to have a better understanding of what contributes to
quality in online education.
Meyer (2002) provides in-depth insights into the quality that can be attained through
faculty development within distance education. The role of the institution would be to
provide commitment, a quality management process and a conceptual model of
transformation in order to satisfy students’ needs and empower learning.
In this respect, constructivist based course design and collaboration amongst faculty
members are the critical factors to increase student learning and skills and thus
increase the quality of the standards in online education programs (Meyer, 2002). In
addition, willingness to commit, critical thinking and reflective practice as well as
student, situational and educational system factors are important elements in enhancing
learning in online education. Salmon (2002) argues that quality depends on good
course design by tutors committed to a learner centred process. Salmon helps provide a
theoretical framework for my project, underlining that when a group needs to work
together for a reason, then more knowledge may be created through the interaction.
She further emphasises that the commitment of stakeholders, internalizing the online
process, technical skills and good communication are qualities that need to be
developed in online projects. Edward (2001) also argues that course design is the
critical quality indicator in online education and argues that constructivism is the most
relevant approach to online courses. This approach, he proposes, involves students
working in small groups, collaborating with others and taking the responsibility for
learning in order to develop particular skills in line with the learning cycle. The need
to promote interactive and collaborative learning within the social constructivist
11
paradigm is also discussed by Huang (2002), who also argues that constructivism is
the most relevant approach to online education course design.
Committed instructors and faculty thus need to develop action plans to integrate
constructivist principles into the delivery and design of courses. This research
therefore encapsulates the commitment of the core members within my institute in
integrating constructivist principles in courses design and delivery in practice.
Huang (2002) points out that since online learning has a different setting from the
classroom, online educators require specific techniques and perceptions since the
nature of the practice has a different philosophical and methodological base. He
proposes a model for the integration of constructivism into course design in line with
the adult learning approach. Neo (2005) provides a further theoretical strand of
relevance to my research in his discussion of the relationship between the
constructivist learning environment and the skills development of online students.
Fisher and Baird (2005) also provide insights as to how course design provides a
platform for social and collaborative learning opportunities for online students to
develop their learning and transferable skills for their future.
My project thus aims to fill gaps in the extant literature by focusing on inclusion,
collaboration and flexibility in online course design. Significantly, action research is
used as a tool for change based on collaboration, commitment and inclusion of
stakeholders to improve performance in working practice (Hubbard and Power, 1993,
Marcinkoniene and Keka’le, 2007). For this reason, I have attempted to employ
participatory action research in my research in order to develop working practice and
teamwork within the Distance Education Institute and thus implement a constructivist
approach to online course design that will help develop the learning and skills of
online students.
12
In relation to the issues raised by the literature on this subject, the EUA report on the
status of the Distance Education Institute and its research activities, the
implementation of a constructivist approach to course design based on staff
commitment thus seems not only a worthwhile research topic but crucial to better
institutional practice.
1.4 Aim of the Work based Research Project
My work based project aims to investigate the role of teamwork in implementing a
constructivist approach to course design in developing the learning and skills of the
online students in Distance Education Institute at EMU. As stated, developing
distance education practice is relevant both within the mission of the university, and
within the context of the EUA report, which underlined the importance of distance
education practice for the future of the university at a time when distance learning was
still in its infancy at EMU.
In this respect, my research aims to:
1. Raising awareness on the need for collaboration and committed decision-
making in course design and development.
2. Implementing a constructivist approach through training within a
participatory action research framework.
Focusing on the role of the course design in developing the skills of online students
and supporting institutional action plans through this specific research focus is
intended to provide concrete benefit to the institution. The project covers the raising of
awareness on collaboration, changes to course designs and the implementation of the
constructivist approach through training and policy action.
13
In relation to change and development in my institution, participatory action research
was employed to promote better working practice with a view to sharing the outcomes
and benefits with other higher education institutions.
As far as the nature of inductive process in my work-based project is concerned, I
attempted to use participatory action research, based on deliberate action for change
and course development and design through the reflective, collaborative insights of the
worker researcher and the participants (Schön, 1991).
During the research, the director of the institute, one technical staff member, thirteen
online tutors and the director of the Tourism Department were to be involved in the
process as core members. The proposed tutors brought a wide range of subject
interests to the project. One tutor was from Economics, the director and five tutors
were from Tourism, one tutor was from the Architecture Department, five from the
English Preparatory School and one from the General Education Department.
Fourteen students from the seven online courses also became research participants.
Throughout the inductive process, the action research cycle was adapted to my
research. My project comprised eight strategic stages to complete the project
efficiently and fulfil the expected outcomes.
1.5 Products and Outcomes of My Work-based Research Project
My work based project was intended to meet the needs of a wide target audience,
including the Distance Education Institute, the Rector and Vice Rector of Academic
Affairs, the Director, Tutors, Students and Technical Staff at EMU, and Higher
Education Councils in North Cyprus and Turkey as well as other Higher Education
Institutions.
14
The project was intended to deliver the following products and outcomes:
� Putting forward an action plan for quality improvements in distance
education practice at Eastern Mediterranean University based on
European Universities Association standards.
� Creating a teamwork culture within the institute
� Enhancing the pedagogical knowledge and experience of online tutors
� Producing a handbook on how to prepare and design online courses based
on constructivist approach regarding team work culture for sharing with
other higher education institutions
� Academic papers for conferences and publication about implementing a
constructivist approach into online courses to develop the learning and
skills of online students
� Disseminating the results of my project with the public, media and
professionals.
My work-based research journey enabled me to gain insights into practitioner research
for change within a work setting. In addition, it led to the development of an improved
working relationship with other staff based on the innovation of a new approach within
the institute and to the planning and implementing of action to meet the needs of the
target audiences. Furthermore, it enhanced my practical research experience and
developed my in-depth knowledge of project management and the distance education
field. It also enabled me learn how to plan and develop a new paradigm in innovative
and strategic ways.
15
CHAPTER II
RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES, TERMS OF
REFERENCE, RESEARCH STATEMENTS AND QUESTIONS
2.1 Introduction
This chapter of my work based research project includes three sections: Aim and
objectives, terms of reference, research statement and questions. The first part
examines the aim of my project and its specific objectives. The second part reviews the
previous conceptual and empirical research on project teams and the implementation
of a constructivist approach to course designs in an online context.
This provides the theoretical framework for my project. It starts by reviewing team
work in decision making processes for course design. It then addresses different
authors’ concerns about the constructivist approach to learning. The literature review
then pulls these arguments together and emphasises the need to undertake a
constructivist approach in online education for the purposes of my project.
In this respect, a review of skills development of students in an constructivist-
orientated online context is carried out. Particular attention is given to which skills are
fostered and limited by the constructivist approach in an online context. In addition,
the discussion section provides a summary of relevant literature. In the final part of the
chapter, the research statement and main research questions are specified in terms of
importance.
2.2 Aim and Objectives of My Work based Research Project
The EUA report on distance education at EMU stated that practice needed to be
improved through concrete action plans. This required consideration not only of the
EUA report, but global standards in distance education practice, and the quality driven
16
policies within the mission, vision and educational philosophy of the university.
Therefore, the main aim of my research project was to promote an action plan based
on these factors that would lead to the implementation of a constructivist approach to
online course design and develop the learning and skills of online students through a
culture of teamwork.
In achieving success, I had a number of advantages, including my role, my in-depth
knowledge and experience in the field, networking and communication ability with
core organisation members, and a commitment to the development of the Distance
Education Institute.
As mentioned, my project included raising awareness on collaboration, course design
and the implementation of a constructivist approach within a participatory action
research framework. In specific, my research aimed to accomplish the following
objectives:
• To create the awareness on the part of Distance Education Institute members
regarding team work for decision making about course design
• To create awareness about the constructivist approach in online education
through training
• To integrate the constructivist approach into online course design to develop
the critical thinking skills of online students
• To contribute to organizational change in terms of instructional design within
distance education practices.
These specific objectives were to be realized through my initiative and strategic efforts
in the Distance Education Institute at EMU through a concrete action plan to develop a
constructivist approach to online course design that would develop in parallel the team
work culture required for sustainable quality development.
17
2.3 Term of Reference
The literature review section of this chapter will include a critical analysis of the
literature in relation to: teamwork culture in working practice; the constructivist
approach in online course design; the role of the constructivist approach to course
design in developing the learning and skills of students; and a discussion that draws on
this critical engagement with literature to develop a theoretical and conceptual map for
my own research project.
Team Work Culture in Working Practices
In educational settings, decentralization is seen as a major policy to increase efficiency,
flexibility, accountability, and responsiveness to innovation, change and development.
This requires practitioners in higher education to be involved in collaborative processes
while making important decisions (Ho, 2006; Lam, 2005).
It is further stressed that leaders proposing change need to involve others in decision
making for a number of reasons. These include obtaining necessary information,
coming up with creative alternatives, gaining commitment and training future
generations of decision makers through a sound process (Schwarber, 2005). Shared
decision making is thus an essential step in productive organizational development and
this requires a debate on the importance of teamwork and commitment within shared
decision making processes to foster new practices (Ho, 2006).
Francis and Young (1979) define a team as being an energetic group of people who are
committed to achieving common objectives, who work well together and enjoy doing
so, and who produce high quality results. Johnson (1991) defines teams in terms of of
interpersonal relationships structured to achieve established goals. Lanza (1985)
describes a team as being a group of individuals working together in which the success
of any individual is dependent on the success of the entire group. Dyer (1977) and
18
Badu (2002) similarly describe teams as collections of people who must rely on group
collaboration if each member is to experience the optimum sense of success and goal
achievement. These specific definitions provided insights into the context of the
project and suggested ways in which teamwork could be established.
A knowledge society makes information available and encourages people to commit to
organization (Rabey, 2003). Therefore, organizations lead people to work together in
order to achieve synergy for a desirable outcome. In this respect, teams need to learn
how to develop knowledge, share information, and build on each other’s knowledge to
create new knowledge and new models, rather than simply adapt the models already
existing (Yeh et al., 2006; Savolainen et al., 2007).
The team is an important means of organizational change and continuous improvement
through innovative activities. It develops organizational performance through
involvement, learning, interaction (Castka et al., 2003). Teamwork culture is widely
accepted as a way to face today's turbulent environment and to create a flexible high
performance organization responsive to ongoing change and capable of continuous
improvement in team and organisational performance. (Castka et al., 2003; Sumanski
et al., 2007).
Team roles emphasise on organizational success (Trent, 2003), focusing on quality, the
passion to achieve results and confront challenges, on innovation, and the conversion
of plans to into workable activities (Water et al., 2008). In this respect, evaluation of
the knowledge that is shared among team members has been found to be a prerequisite
for successful collaborative teamwork (Leinonen and Bluemink, 2008). This type of
collaboration is in high demand and is based on team inventory factors including
vision, participative safety, task orientation, support for innovation, and interaction
frequency (LoBue, 2002). Huszczo (1990) further provides insights into team types
19
that will be of value in this project in terms of collaborative work for change and
development in working practice.
In higher education program development, project teams are particularly significant for
the development of program design based on collaboration and committed decision
making process. Teams need to cover these components: inter-team, team member
strengths and skills, communication, roles and interdependence, clarity of team goals,
decision-making and leadership, organizational support. In relation to these
components, team members may maintain differentiated roles within the work groups
and one of the members can assume the dual role of trainer and the mentor within the
project team (Tarricone and Luca, 2002). My own work based research project aimed
to cover these components, and I took on the leadership role to facilitate the team
members work in relation to my research focus.
Yuen and Chen (2001) point out that action learning in project teams can help teachers
gain the necessary professional competence for making better judgements and taking
effective action in ambiguous situations. It thus enhances teachers' professional
practice and performance in a changing and uncertain environment. In addition,
particularly when teachers interact among themselves, they accumulate experience and
learn new knowledge and skills.
Passfield (2002) also underlines that action learning through action research enhances
success in program design. Program design elements with personal and organizational
outcomes contribute both to synergy and ongoing organizational energy and
innovation.
In respect to the aims of my research project, a change oriented action plan was
implemented to provide learning, and knowledge sharing for both myself and the core
participants in order to promote personal and professional development. Supporting
20
instructors in adopting new models of teaching, particularly when new technology is
involved, provides profound insights concerning teamwork and the commitment of
instructors in higher education. Thus a significant focus of my project involved action
learning through sharing knowledge and experience. (Ellis et al., 2008).
Duffuaa et al. (2003) discuss how the quality of academic programs is drastically
affected by the design and delivery of courses. Indeed these two components are
central to the development of quality as laid out in the action plan for this work based
project process.
Collaborative research into course design and delivery is also a significant element in
improving quality by attracting high-quality candidates/students and promoting
opportunities for industry engagement (Walker et al., 2008). Rethinking quality in
higher education program and courses hence requires a firm platform of teamwork and
commitment (Houston, 2008).
Lemmergaard (2008) points out that academic practitioners attempt to work together
with a pragmatic approach to improving working practices through project teams.
Bokeno (2008) emphasizes that teamwork requires a high level of participation and
collaboration. Teams in higher education quality development are populated by
interconnected, trusting and committed teachers who willingly contribute their energy
and loyalty through collective efforts (Jeffery et al., 2005; Park et al., 2005).
In my work based project, energy and loyalty through the collective efforts of the core
members in designing online courses within their project teams are emphasised
throughout.
A popular change in higher education involves the use of team management to
combine knowledge and education to increase productivity (Denton, 2006). Margaryan
(2008) emphasises the need to support instructors in adopting new learning theories
21
into course design. However, although he considers involvement of instructors, the
study remains partial by not focusing sufficiently on the necessity of project teams for
change and development in course and program design.
Walker et al. (2008) suggest that collaborative research increases the professionalism
of practitioners and organization members when they attempt to integrate new
knowledge and also enhances the quality of tasks performed through committed
decision making process.
Cavaleri and Reed (2008) examine the role of the practitioner as leader, mentor, and
facilitator within action learning and look at how project teams approach new tasks
and decide together on change of practice. In this respect, my role as leader was
significant in that I had responsibility for establishing project teams and evaluating the
knowledge and shared decisions in working practice with regard to designing the
online courses (Leinonen and Bluemink, 2008).
The study of Hutchins and Hutchison (2008) examines cross-disciplinary research on
e-learning from workplace learning, educational technology, and instructional
communication disciplines to identify relevant e-learning design principles. The study
underlines the need for holistic understanding of online course design and
collaborative attempts to innovate change and development within the design process.
The collaborative design process requires team inspiration and cohesion and the effort
invested provides insights into professional growth as a reward for those involved in
project teams. This study was integral to the theoretical framework of my work based
research project and the creation of a team work culture in my working practice while
designing online courses.
22
Constructivist Approach to Online Course Design
Academic professionalism needs to be reinvigorated by the use of online education in
higher education (McPherson and Nunes, 2006; Slotte and Herbert, 2006; Moravec,
2008). Srikantham and Dalrymple (2007) emphasize that quality in higher education
requires the consideration of different alternative practices. Online education is a
strategic transferable product of higher education (Adams, 2007; Bell, 2007; Hartman
et al., 2007). As an innovative strategy, it brings many benefits: it is an effective way
to provide an individualized learning experience, while also offering opportunities for
collaborative learning, as well as enabling learning to continue despite the limitations
of distance and time. Learning is an increasingly complex phenomenon and cannot be
restricted to the classroom.
Many institutions of higher learning have moved rapidly towards integrating
information and communication technology into the teaching and learning
environment. Regarding the EUA report on the status of distance education practice in
my work context, much attention is devoted to the need to generate action plans for
developing online courses and programs. In this respect, I had considerable
responsibility for activating the relevant change and development in my own work
context.
Online teaching and learning also offer opportunities for educational systems to offer
education experiences in different modes, thus contributing to a democratization of
learning opportunities (Wallace, 2002; Kim et al., 2005).
Furthermore, online education allows universities to access the mass international
market, without requiring costly investment in a campus infrastructure. It promotes
greater efficiency in course delivery, supports a greater diversity of pedagogic
approaches, increases flexibility for learners and offers extensive opportunities for
23
interactivity, thus personalizing the learning process and environment (Stacey et al.,
2004; Ennew and Young, 2006).
Gunasekaran et al. (2002) suggest meanwhile that online education becomes a power
to really transform the performance, knowledge and skills in higher education. Sit et
al. (2005) stress that educational practices in online education aim to facilitate learning
by taking responsibility in learning, and through respect for diversity, collaboration,
interaction and the use of technology.
Pallof and Pratt (2003) define quality in online education in terms of learner focused.
Good practice relies on encouraging student-faculty contact, cooperation among
students, active learning, prompt feedback and communication, respecting diverse
talents and ways of learning.
It can be stressed that the knowledge society demands the consideration of the
importance of learning how to learn (Bleimann, 2004; Poerksen, 2005). Changes in our
educational environment lead to changes in our approaches to teaching and learning.
These changes also impact on our teaching and learning paradigms (Brown, 2006).
The essential core of constructivism is that learners actively construct their own
knowledge and meaning from their experiences (Steffe and Gale, 1995; Fosnot, 1996).
Constructivism exists with three broad categories: cognitive constructivism, social
constructivism and radical constructivism (Doolittle, 1997). Cognitive constructivism
focuses on the construction of knowledge through information processing with the
learner playing a central role. Social constructivism views all knowledge as socially
constructed through interactions with other individuals and the environment and
maintains an emphasis on language use. Radical constructivism posits that the
individual constructs knowledge based on his or her own experiences and may not be a
24
true representation of external reality as all experiences are subjective (vonGlasersfeld,
1995).
Although these categories of constructivism have significant differences, they share
the basic premise of constructivism: learners actively construct knowledge and
meaning from their experiences. Constructivism is often associated with pedagogic
approaches that promote active learning, or learning by doing (Duffy and Jonassen
1992).
Adopting constructivist learning in online education was the major innovation in the
quality efforts in my work based research project (Haartsen-Geven and Sandberg,
2007), and the constructivist learning perspective was crucial in developing an
approach to online education, in which students were actively engaged in seeking
knowledge and information in their learning process in small groups (Jonassen, 1991;
Cooperstein and Weidinger, 2004; Neo, 2005).
In constructivism, there is a strong belief that learning is a personal interpretation of
the world, as learners create interpretations of the world based on their past experience
and interpretations (Perkins, 1991; Jonassen, 1994; Duffy and Cunningham, 1996).
Constructivist learning places emphasis on the learners and propounds that learning is
affected by their context, beliefs and attitudes. Learners are encouraged to find their
own solutions and to build on their prior knowledge and experiences. In doing so, they
gain a deeper understanding of the event, thereby constructing their own knowledge
and solutions to the problems (Duffy and Jonassen, 1991; Jonassen, 1999).
Furthermore, in the constructivist mode of learning, the learning process is shifted
towards the student-centric mode, where students become active learners and take
more responsibility for their own learning, and in the process learn to construct
knowledge on their own, determine their own learning needs, set their own goals,
25
monitor their own progress and determine how to reach the desired learning outcomes
in a collaborative learning environment (Newby et al., 2000; Andrew, 2004).
The study of Reihlen and Apel (2007) stresses learning through the constructivist
perspective as interaction with the socio-cultural context. Wilson and Lowry (2000)
define constructivist learning as active learning which is constructed, whilst Lefoe
(1998), Hall (2002), Neo (2005), Moon et al. (2005) provide insights on constructivist
pedagogy in online through a set of core design principles within constructivist
pedagogy.
These principles, which are adopted in my project, are that learning should take place
in authentic and real-world environments, learning should involve social negotiation
and mediation, content and skills should be made relevant to the learner and content
and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior knowledge.
Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences
and encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self aware. Tutors serve
primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors, and should provide and
encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.
Osborn and Theodore (2005) see constructivist pedagogy in online education as a
vehicle for enabling students to manage their own learning through metacognitive,
self-reflective and collaborative processes. They also suggest that a constructivist
learning environment includes learner control, learning in real life contexts, flexibility
in learning, the freedom to choose learning resources and openness in discussing
issues.
Regarding the place of constructivist pedagogy in online education, there are benefits
to online students in that they are actively involved in the learning process and that
they are encouraged to concentrate on learning how to think and understand, since
26
constructivist learning is transferable and constructivism gives students ownership of
what they learn and learning activities are taken place in an authentic, real-world
context. Thus, constructivism stimulates and engages students.
Constructivism promotes social and communication skills. Students must learn how to
articulate their ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing in
group projects, exchanging ideas and so learning to "negotiate" with others and to
evaluate their contributions in a socially acceptable manner (Savery and Duffy, 2001;
Hughes and Daykin, 2002). In my work based project, these benefits were considered
in designing the online courses and incorporated into the educational philosophy.
The Role of Constructivist Approach in Learning and Developing Skills
The emphasis on collaboration within constructivist online learning is highly important
(Allan and Lawless, 2005). Driver (2003) and Oshima et al. (2004) state that
collaboration in the online process has serious implications for course design.
Curriculum and learning pedagogy for an online course thus become an innovation
management issue for universities (O’Sullivan, 2003). Siritongthaworn and Krairit
(2006) emphasise the importance of instruction as the critical success factor in creating
learner satisfaction in online learning. Therefore, both the pedagogical role of the tutor
and the course design based on the constructivist approach are essential considerations
in this work-based project.
Constructivist tutors tailor their teaching strategies to the students and encourage them
to interpret, analyze, and predict information. Tutors focus their course design on
creating a rich and socially meaningful learning environment (Gold, 2001). Wallace
(2002), Clark and Mayer (2003), Olaniran (2006) also emphasize the role of course
design in online learning. An important factor in this process is the shared experience
of learning. The open, democratic and collaborative power of the course design based
27
on constructivist principles can be a crucial way of engendering active engagement in
the learning process.
The study of Bravo et al. (2004) strengthens the argument that course design in online
learning is central to helping students acquire the constructive knowledge necessary
for the execution of tasks. In this respect, Zapalska and Brozik (2006) underline that
online instruction needs to provide content in multiple formats, allow for individual
locus of control and encourage active and collaborative interaction. Hence, project-
based learning, and cooperative learning are common techniques for engaging students
in activities since they provide creativity, decision-making, and problem solving skills
for the learner. The integration of these activities into the learning process, through, for
example, collaborative group assignments has a positive influence on student retention
in online courses and contributes to the theoretical framework for my project (Fisher
and Baird, 2005).
Ausburn (2004) clarifies the course design elements in online education that foster
options, personalization, self-direction, variety and the development of a learning
community. Online course features are categorized as course announcements and
reminders from tutors, course information documents, information about assignments,
course instructional materials, personal and contact information for tutor, direct links
to posted internet sites, communication, discussion boards and chat and email links.
All these are considered in my work based research project in order to bolster learning
and skills development of online students within the notion of constructivist pedagogy
in online education.
Macdonald (2003) emphasizes that both the process and product of collaboration
supports skills development. For learning and skills development, good course design
28
is the critical factor in that it provides the interactivity to foster active, adaptive
learning based on teamwork of the tutors designing the courses (Taylor, 2002).
Combe (2005) provides guidance as to how course content is to be processed for good
course design to incorporate collaborative and adaptive learning within the framework
of constructivist approach. The steps include identifying the level of online
involvement, defining pre-instructional activities, selecting content and determining
presentation format, determining learner participation, developing assessment
procedures and reviewing activities. These steps are all taken into account in my
project.These six basic steps underlie learning and develop transferable skills in the
students (Edward, 2001; McLuckie and Topping, 2004).
Patel (2003) and Chii et al. (2004) state that the online learning environment fosters
critical thinking skills through peer interaction. Furthermore, Wang et al. (2001)
emphasize that the self-confidence of online students increases through collaborative
learning. Wen and Tsai (2006) emphasise the role that collaborative learning plays in
knowledge exchange. Furthermore, students gain self-awareness and skills in
reflection through collaborative learning (Crow and Smith, 2003; Finger et al., 2006).
McLoughlin and Luca (2002) additionally stress that effective pedagogy fosters
analysis, communication, higher order thinking and team skills.
Anderton (2006) provides an insight into skill development through constructivist
based course design with regard to the ways in which online courses promote self-
regulated learning. Reeves et al. (2004) meanwhile state that collaboration in an online
environment through constructivist based course design promotes higher order
problem solving abilities, communication skills and fosters intellectual curiosity.
Neo (2005) also underlines that constructivist learning places emphasis on the learners
and comments that learning is affected by their context, beliefs and attitudes. Learners
29
are encouraged to find their own solutions and to build on their prior knowledge and
experiences and in doing so, gain a deeper understanding of the event, thereby
constructing their own knowledge and solutions to problems.
In short, the theoretical framework of my project proposes a constructivist based
course design through collaborative and active learning process enhance learning, and
develop the communication, team and intellectual skills essential for learners in an
academic and subsequently professional environment. However, somewhat omitted in
the literature is the issue of critical thinking skills as a transferable skill in the
constructivist learning process. This is one more element that that my research project
needed to incorporate in my action plan.
Discussion
Quality can be driven by continuous improvements based on change oriented actions.
The need to gain a competitive advantage also leads higher education institutions to
differentiate their services. In this respect, universities seek to find alternative methods
such as distance education to differentiate services and promote innovative quality
strategies for further development.
Despite the popularity of distance education as a quality strategy, and even its
necessity due to higher education policies, standards set by organisations such as the
EUA mean that there is considerable need to handle the change and development of
pedagogical and organisational aspects of working practice. This needed addressing in
my work based research project.
The quality of academic programs relies on the design of the courses within the
program (Duffuaa et al., 2003). In designing a program with a new approach requiring
innovation, change and adaptation, the commitment of the volunteer teachers was
essential (Houston, 2008; Leinonen and Bluemink, 2008).
30
As Passfield (2002) suggests, with its emphasis on action learning, my work based
research project opened a debate on teamwork and a committed, shared decision
making process to propose new practices involving teachers as practitioners and
underlining course design as the critical factor for the quality of program development
(Ho, 2006).
Good course design is a critical ingredient for developing and supporting deep learning
(Ramsden 1992; Biggs 1999; Elbaum et al., 2002). Biggs (1999) argues that this
involves formulating the intended learning outcomes carefully, designing learning
activities that adequately enable students to achieve the learning outcomes, and
implementing assessment activities that adequately measure the learning outcomes.
Further, he stresses that these three aspects of the course design process should be
‘constructively aligned’, i.e., be consistent with each other.
Poor course design, on the other hand, will often lead to student dissatisfaction and
may even hinder learning (Ramsden 1992; Biggs 1999). Not surprisingly then,
researchers in online learning agree that good course design is critical in the success of
online courses (Laurillard, 2002; Mason, 2002; Oliver, 2002; Salmon, 2002). But what
constitutes 'good' online course design? There is general agreement that online design
should support participative, student-centred learning (Ehrmann, 2002; Hall, 2002;
Laurillard, 2002; Mason, 2002; Oliver, 2002; Salmon, 2002).
Active participation in online discussions does not occur by itself, but must be
intentionally designed into a course (Jung et al., 2002; Laurillard, 2002; Salmon,
2002). Based on a constructivist framework, supporting learners, designing authentic
tasks, constructing an environment for learner reflection and incorporating
collaboration are key features to encourage participation and enhance learning and
31
contributed to the theoretical stance of my work based research project (Merrill, 1992;
Savery and Duffy, 2001).
Research on online learning and teaching strongly suggests that course design based
on a constructivist framework is critical to the success of online practices (Dillon,
2000; Gold, 2001; Ausburn, 2004; Gulati, 2004; Salter et al., 2004; Wiesenberg and
Stacey, 2005). Constructivist pedagogy is a significant element in the development of
collaborative online practice to enhance the quality of learning and teaching online
(Osborn and Theodore, 2005).
The collaborative learning process allows students to construct scaffolding for critical
thinking and provides immediacy of feedback in which peers give and receive help,
exchange resources and information, give and receive feedback, challenge and
encourage each other and jointly reflect on progress and process (Curtis and Lawson,
2001).
Producing students who both present their own views and critically analyze the views
of others is the essence of collaborative online learning within the notion of
constructivist pedagogy. This perspective also strongly informs the theoretical
framework of my project.
Ausburn (2004) found evidence supporting the belief that course design has a great
impact on students’ learning by investigating the most valued course design elements,
namely options, personalization, self-direction, variety and a learning community. A
number of arguments have been put forward by other researchers also that
constructivist pedagogy accompanies collaborative online learning in order to foster
skills (Wang et al., 2001; Huang, 2002; McLoughlin and Luca, 2002; Harris and
Bretag, 2003; McLuckie and Topping, 2004).
32
Huang (2002) also provides an insight into how constructivist principles create a more
learner-centred collaborative environment and support critical reflection and an
experiential process. McLoughlin and Luca (2002) argue strongly that collaborative
learning is an effective pedagogy that fosters skills of analysis, communication and
higher order thinking in online students. Harris and Bretag (2003) meanwhile argue for
an increased emphasis on collaborative teaching to enhance both the communication
skills of students and their learning outcomes. The study of Wang et al. (2001) puts an
emphasis on the promotion of collaborative learning for the improvement of students’
communication skills, awareness of the value of team work, development of effective
presentation skills and competences in using tools.
Aside from the considerable academic debate surrounding various issues related to
collaborative learning, there is however a gap in understanding the role of
constructivist based course design in the enhancement of collaborative online learning
as related to the development of critical thinking skills of students.
Thus, although Edwards (2001), Hughes and Daykin (2002), Morrison (2003),
Wilhelm (2003), and Fisher and Baird (2005), Neo (2005) provide insights into the
impact of constructivist online learning, they fail to stress the significant relationship
between the role of course design in developing critical thinking skills and the
importance of project team efforts in designing online courses within specific contexts
that promote action learning.
As constructivism revolves around the issue of how the collaborative process makes
learners present their views and critically analyze the views of others, there is a need to
extend our knowledge of what elements in course design specifically develop the
critical thinking skills of students within the action learning process. This confirms the
need to create an action plan for online course design that incorporates this
33
fundamental element into a framework for qualified practice in distance education
institutes (Elbaum et al., 2002). Thus, development of online course design through a
constructivist approach constitutes a significant research focus that needs to be
investigated in order to promote better working practices based on action learning and
team work culture. My work based research project therefore has the potential to play
a significant role in filling the gap in the literature and meeting institutional need as
directed by the EUA report.
2.4 Research Statement and Research Questions
The research focus of my project is creating an awareness of the importance of team
work culture in the Distance Education Institute for collaboratively designing online
courses and implementing a constructivist approach to online course designs to
develop the learning and skills of online students. My action plan provided a basis for
answering the following research questions in order to accomplish my research aims
and objectives in my work based research project:
Q1. To what extent does the Distance Education Institute employ team work in
the implementation of online course design?
Q2. To what extent do online courses designed by the Distance Education
Institute incorporate the principles of a constructivist approach?
Q3. How does constructivist based collaborative learning operate in the online
program?
Q4. To what extent does constructivist based online course design foster/limit
skills development of students?
Q5. Based on the constructivist approach, what online course design elements
create the environment for collaborative learning and thus contribute to the
development of critical thinking skills?
34
Throughout the inductive process, these research questions helped me to follow
deliberate sequences of actions in my action plan with the voluntary participation of
core members.
Regarding the research questions, the first step was to explore to what extent the
Distance Education Institute employed team work in the design of online courses. In
this respect, I attempted to use in-depth interviews to gain insights into awareness and
commitment in course design decision making processes. In-depth interviews provided
a base line measurement for the training that followed. I conducted training to develop
knowledge and experience of team work culture and create project teams to encourage
core members to work together in online course design.
In examining to what extent online course design at the Distance Education Institute
practiced the principles of the constructivist approach, I conducted semi-structured
interviews with online tutors to explore awareness of the constructivist approach and
its implications in order to understand how the approach was realized in the online
program. Along with the semi-structured interviews, I analyzed the design of the
online courses using a checklist about the principles of the constructivist approach
derived from Merrill (1992), Dillon (2000), Gold (2001), Savery, Duffy (2001),
Huang (2002), Ausburn (2004) – the researchers who provided the theoretical
framework for my project.
In order to implement the constructivist approach into online course design in an
efficient way, I conducted training to help tutors gain further understanding of the
constructivist approach and its integration into their online courses. This training
encapsulated change and development in teaching philosophy and thereby enhanced
the professional growth of the tutors. After the training, there was an integration of the
constructivist approach into online courses, which obviously required an adaptation
35
process. During this process, in order to examine how the constructivist based
collaborative learning was performing, I conducted focus group activities to be
proactively engaged in any immediate changes that might be needed during the
adaptation process.
In order to examine to what extent constructivist based course design elements
enhance the learning and skills development of students, I conducted semi-structured
interviews with online students and tutors. In line with the semi-structured interviews,
self-reports based on scaling structured the reflections of the students on the
development of their particular skills in the online context.
Throughout the process, I kept a diary to report each of the actions for change and
development in my participatory action research. The feedback forms which were
gathered from core members provided a further basis for increasing the efficiency of
my research project and its efforts to ensure better working practice. My project was to
be developed into a handbook of good practice based on participatory action research
and which would meet the needs of the target audiences and the requirements of the
EUA report. The handbook would then be shared with other higher education
institutions through submission to the Higher Education Councils in both North
Cyprus and Turkey. The inductive journey that proceeded provided a significant
professional reward to me in my academic career.
36
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter outlines the methodology employed in my work based research project. It
begins with my evaluation and justification of the adoption of a qualitative research
design and action research approach in my project. Furthermore, I discuss the
justification for choosing an action research approach and the importance of being a
motivated insider and worker researcher in the research process.
I highly concentrate on ethical considerations and reasons for the choice of data
collection techniques. I further detail how data from multiple techniques were
triangulated and analyzed. The chapter ends by explaining my research process.
3.2 Chosen Research Design: Qualitative Research Journey
Research designs differ significantly as a result of differences in philosophical
viewpoints such as positivism and anti positivism. Qualitative inquiry, as is well
documented, deals with meaning and aims to investigate what is happening in
particular contexts based on the role of the motivated insider as a researcher assuming
an anti positivist position (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992).
Denzin and Lincoln (2003) have developed a generic description of qualitative
research:
“it involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This
means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings,
attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the
meanings people bring to them” (p.5)
The above definition justifies my choice of qualitative inquiry for my project as it is a
set of interpretive activities to understand the socially constructed meanings within the
work context. As practitioner research in educational practice relies on understanding
37
what is happening and why, an appropriate research design would be able to follow the
anti-positivist position by using qualitative research based on an inductive process.
Grounded theory is a qualitative research type that is concerned with building theory.
It goes beyond description of the context to seek connections and explanations. In this
respect, I attempt to use grounded theory to develop insights into areas in which theory
is limited or does not exist.
Cohen et al. (2000) provide in-depth insights on epistemological and methodological
understanding in educational practices. I considered four critical questions through
which they helped me develop my professional knowledge and formulate the design of
my project. These questions are listed below:
Q1. What epistemology - theory of knowledge embedded in the theoretical
perspective - informs the research (e.g., objectivism, subjectivism)?
Q2. What theoretical perspective-philosophical stance lies behind the
methodology in question (e.g., positivism, interpretivism, etc.)?
Q3. What methodology-strategy or plan of action that links methods to outcome-
governs our choice and use of methods (e.g., survey, case study, ethnography,
etc.)?
Q4. What methods- techniques and procedures-do we propose to use (e.g.,
interview, focus group, etc.)?
Saunders et al. (2000) provide guidelines for the research process that helped me
internalize an in-depth understanding of my research process. According to those
guidelines, there are two main philosophical positions in research: positivism and anti-
positivist. Further to this, the two main approaches to research are deductive and
inductive with the choice of research approach influencing the research questions and
38
objectives. The main research strategies are survey, case study, ethnography and action
research.
Research projects may be cross-sectional or longitudinal and they may be classed as
exploratory, descriptive or explanatory. Significantly, multi method approaches to
research enable triangulation of results from the different methods of gathering data. In
qualitative research, we should ensure the results are credible. Furthermore, the
researcher taking an insider perspective should consider ethical issues.
Since the overall aim of my project is implementing a constructivist approach to the
online course designs to develop the skills of online students in Distance Education
Institute at EMU, an in-depth investigation on constructed meanings and experiences
of institute members is required to acquire a better understanding of the complex
elements of constructivist based online course designs and the skills development of
online students within the particular context.
Qualitative research was the appropriate research design for my in-depth investigation
since it enabled the exploration of meanings and experiences and provided the basis
for better practice within context based on change and innovation.
Through an inductive process, my project aims to explore team work inspiration and
create a team work culture within the institute. It evaluates the awareness of tutors
about the constructivist approach in their online courses and implements a
constructivist approach to online course designs. Finally, the project evaluates the
perceptions of tutors and the students regarding the implementation of the
constructivist approach in online courses and the development of learning and skills of
online students through team work.
Regarding the multiple aims within my project, I implemented a series of actions
based on multiple data collection techniques. The research aims at proposing a good
39
work practice that can be shared with other professionals and other higher education
institutions.
3.3 Approach Chosen for My Work based Research Project
Action research was chosen as an appropriate approach for my project as intervention
and subsequent evaluation contribute to existing knowledge and deal with problematic
situations through organizational change and innovation (Gill and Johnson, 1997).
In this approach, the primary importance to educational research in institutions is:
“to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate
problematic situation and to the goals of social science by joint
collaboration within a mutually acceptable ethical framework” (Gill,
Johnson, 1997:62).
Gonzalez et al. (2004) define action research as the heart of interpretation in
understanding the practices that may result in change. In addition, Cook (2004) points
out that it is an innovative, interagency, reflective practice of working together for
change. In this respect, action research in practice aims to solve specific managerial
problems, to generalize from the specific and to contribute to theory based on the
collaboration and intervention of the organizations’ members. In other words, action
research is a systematic inquiry to diagnose a problem within a specific context and
seek solutions based on the change and learning cycle.
Action research is a continual learning process which organizations, especially
educational institutions, need to adopt to engage within a competitive market (Saito et
al. 2007). In this respect, individuals within organizations need to develop insights for
problem solving and development and give regard to collaboration and the
transformation of learning into practice. Therefore, collectivity for change and
innovation within educational practice is a crucial element in the action research
process (Lomax et al., 1996). Lomax et al. (1996) define action research as:
40
“...a form of practitioner research that can be used to help you improve
your professional practices in many different types of workplaces”
(p.7).
In educational research, educational values, educational professionalism, reflection,
and the development of a critical community are central principles in carrying out
collaborative action research. Zajc and Bednarz (2007) describe action research as a
professional development strategy aimed at changing professional practices. This
learning cycle involves collective assessment, collaborative actions, group support,
and intervention. In this respect, action research focuses on problems and improvement
in educational practices as a result of community analysis within a specific context.
Freebody (2003) defines action research as:
“deliberate, solution oriented investigation that is group or personally
owned and conducted. It is characterized by spiraling cycles of problem
investigation, systematic data collection, reflection, analysis, data driven
action taken, and finally problem redefinition. The linking of the terms
‘action’ and ‘research’ highlights the essential features of this method:
trying out ideas in practice as means of increasing knowledge about
and/or improving curriculum, teaching and learning” (p.86).
Mills (2003) supports the argument that action research aims to take action and
effect positive educational change in the specific school environment under study.
Action research provides insights, develops reflective practice, effects positive
change and improves the professional knowledge of those involved in the learning
cycle.
Action research is a collaborative tool requiring the participation and willingness of
the members to create change and development. This involves decision making
authority, continuing professional development and context improvement, reflecting
on practice, using a systematic approach, choosing an area of focus, determining data
collection techniques: analyzing and interpreting the data, and developing action
plans for change within specific educational context.
41
Besides change and innovation in the specific context, action research contributes
professional growth opportunities to those involved and facilitates the development
of reflective practitioner amongst researchers (Halton, 2004; Bustingorry, 2008).
Regarding my own project, this collaborative research encouraged me as an insider
researcher and the participants to be continuous learners in our practice (Mills,
2003).
Action research has two dimensions, which are the researcher as a learner, based a
personal development (reflection), and the researcher as a collaborator, based on the
validation of practice and knowledge (reflexivity). In my action research process, I
become a self-critical, reflective researcher (Schön, 1991; Pring, 2000).
In a reflective inquiry, action research involves selecting the focus of the inquiry and
studying the available literature, collecting the data from a variety of sources, using
forms of ethnographic and case study techniques, analyzing, documenting and
reviewing the effects of teachers’ and students’ actions, developing and
implementing interpretive analytic categories, organizing the data and its
interpretation, taking actions based on short and long-term plans, and repeating the
cycle. In my own project these were the stages I considered in attempting to achieve
results and success (Altrichter et al., 1993; Cohen et al., 2000).
As this inquiry proposes change and innovation to practices in a specific context, the
advantages of the action research approach require justification:
• it bridges the gap between research and practice
• it develops creative and critical individuals within their practice and
encourages them to become continuous learners
• it increases reflective practitioners’ feelings of self-worth and confidence
• it increases awareness of problems and solutions.
42
• it helps researchers to become aware of their own perceptual biases and
values.
• it questions practitioners’ educational values and beliefs.
• it builds and broadens practitioners’ views about their practices.
• It is consistently the vehicle for personal, professional or organizational
change.
(Altrichter et al., 1993; Cotton and Griffiths, 2007)
Action research as a learning cycle also has limitations and I became aware of these
disadvantages while conducting action research in my workplace. As an insider
researcher, being too close to the issue that needs to be investigated may raise validity
and reliability problems. Issues of ethics such as confidentiality of the participants
require willing consent and stakeholders and participants need to aware and
comfortable with the research process, particularly one that involves change and
innovation (Saunders et al., 2000).
Action research involves research applied to practical issues occurring in educational
practice. The aim is to engineer change and monitor results for improvement within
the work setting. In this respect, there is an emphasis on facilitating group work to
improve the situation. In this cyclic process, planning, acting, observing and reflecting
are the key components to implement actions and increase contextual knowledge
(Altrichter et al., 1993).
Action research is problem focused, context specific and future orientated. It involves
intervention in which research, action and evaluation are interlinked with each other.
Ledwith (2007) discusses emancipatory action research, which focuses on identifying
and changing practices through participatory and holistic knowing, critical
43
subjectivity, and knowledge in action within the frame of critical reflectivity to
propose improvements.
In this regard, my aim was to bring about improvements by identifying and clarifying
problems, identifying and implementing change oriented actions to improve the
situation, and testing and implementing to determine the impact of the changes made
through the participatory action research process.
The action research cycle thus provides a critical examination of the relationship of
theory and practice for change:
1 ask questions
6 positive action for change 2 collect data
5 plan action steps 3 analyse
4 formulate hypothesis/reflect
Figure 1. Action Research Cycle. (Middlesex University Module Handbook,
2008:70).
I used this cycle in my work based learning as it focuses on the researcher as worker
needing to improve their own or their colleagues’ practice. My project was grounded
in an action plan to change, implement a new approach and improve the practices of
online courses.
The report of the EUA on online education practice in my work place was the
significant evidence leading me to employ participatory action research approach for
change and innovation in my project. Participatory action research involves
experiential knowing, a practical knowing process which requires the involvement of
44
the members within a specific context for change and innovation (Moore, 2004;
Williams, 2007; Beatty et al., 2008; Eilertsen et al., 2008).
In this respect, action research is one of the most popular methods of professional
development, providing a practical way to uncover the complexities of the teaching
process thereby to improve the quality of learning (Altrichter et al., 1993). My project
followed the process of finding a starting point, clarifying the situation, developing
action strategies, putting them into practice in teacher training and making this
knowledge public. As Hubbard and Power (1993) describe it, that I attempt perform
the roles of model, counsellor, learner, listener, questioner and ego builder. Overall,
the following statements justify my chosen research approach as appropriate for
change and success within my work based research process:
• Willingness to change practices within context; aiming at improvements in
online course design through a constructivist approach and involvement in
team decision making
• Dealing with individuals as members of the Distance Education Institute
• Targeting small scale research within a specific work context
• Being an expert on distance education practices and being a facilitator and
researcher in my work setting
• Considering research, action and evaluation for future oriented success and
continual learning as a reflective practitioner
I present the stages of my action research plan in Figure 2 along with justification for
the choice of approach:
45
Inductive Process Focus:
Implementing a Constructivist Approach into Online Course Design in the Distance Education
Institute at EMU
Action Research Cycles
Cycle I
Objective: Evaluating current
situation and creating team work
culture
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for change
Action I: In-depth
Interviews
Focus: Exploring the
team inspiration of the
institute for
collaborative decision
making process in
relation to course design.
Action II: Training
Focus: Team work and
decision making process
for course design
(Keeping research diary)
Cycle II
Objective: Evaluating the awareness
of tutors about the constructivist
approach
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for change
Action III: Semi-structured
Interviews
Focus: Exploring
awareness of online tutors
about principles of
constructivist approach
Action IV: Documentary
Analysis
Focus: Analyzing online
course design regarding
the principles of the
constructivist approach
(Keeping research diary)
Cycle III
46
Objective: Implementing the
constructivist approach into online
course designs
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for change
Action V: Training
Focus: Creating awareness
about the constructivist
approach
Action VI: Focus Group
Focus: Examining the
adaptation process
(Keeping research diary)
Objective: Evaluating the outcome of
the process
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for change
Action VII: Semi-
structured Interviews with
online tutors
Focus: Examining the
changes in teaching
philosophy and skills of
online students
Action VIII: Semi-
structured Interviews and
Self-reports
Focus: Examining learning
and skills of online
students
(Keeping research diary)
Feedback on success and efficiency
Figure 2. Justification of Chosen Research Approach with Its Stages.
(Adapted from Freebody, 2003; Mills, 2003; Middlesex University Handbook, 2008).
To conclude, my project involves qualitative research based on participatory action
research. It involves a series of actions based on multiple data collection techniques,
including keeping a research diary and theoretical and practical activities to aim at
improvement. It is inquiry that embraces collaboration of members to change practices
and depends on their reflectivity and a systematic learning process to sustain a future
47
oriented collectivity. In other words, it is a disciplined inquiry, in which a personal
attempt is made to understand, improve and reform practices within my work setting.
In the following section I explore gaining and maintaining access to the research
context as a motivated insider seeking change and innovation through participatory
action research.
3.4 The Sample Selection, Gaining and Maintaining Access
Gaining and maintaining access is an important part of the action research process, as
access restrictions can limit opportunities for involvement in the research context. I
therefore tried to achieve regular or sustained access agreements prior to data
collection as this would be vital for my research (Eilertsen et al., 2008).
There is no magic recipe which sets out how a sample should be selected and access
gained. The sampling strategy of my project was based on voluntary participation. In
addition to this, locating core members within the organisation was a significant
determiner of the sampling frame.
Core participants for the research were selected according to prior knowledge of the
researcher, experience in research and having a clear idea about the purpose (Fraenkel
and Wallen, 2000). In this respect, core members included the institute director, online
tutors and volunteer students.
Silverman (2000) suggests that there is need to be flexible and opportunistic in gaining
and maintaining access especially in qualitative inquiry. In addition, it is recommended
to have warm contacts as a researcher to gain access from gate keepers for carrying out
research within a specific context. Regarding my work based project, being a worker
researcher within the organisation, having warm contacts with colleagues, having also
a professional understanding of the subject field, research process and ethics all
contributed to gain access to the context (Altrichter et al., 1993). For my research
48
project, access was gained into the Distance Education Institute through having warm
contact with the stakeholders and being a worker researcher in the field of online
education.
My project was funded by the Ministry of Education in order to assist the development
of the institute according to EUA standards and in partial fulfilment of the action plan
at EMU. In this respect, Distance Education Institute was thought to be an appropriate
case because it central to the strategic planning of quality improvements within the
university. I therefore achieved what was theoretically desirable and practically
possible.
With the help of the Director of the Distance Education Institute online tutors and
other parties were approached and informed about the project and its aims. I
established contacts with other members of the institute.
Confidentiality was guaranteed and ensured by sharing a research package by
participants. This research package covered the focus of research, approach and
methods and included a consent form. Promising change and innovation in online
course design through participatory and collective action research was also influential
in the negotiation process. In the following section, I reflect on my role as a motivated
insider in my work based project.
3.5 My Role as Insider in the Research Process
Research can be defined as gaining new, or verifying existing knowledge through
detailed study of a subject. Kerlinger (1983) defines research as a systematic,
controlled, empirical and critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about the
presumed relations among natural phenomenon. Similarly, Best (1970) defines
research as a systematic activity directed toward discovery and development of an
organized body of knowledge. Research is of an applied nature as it aims to provide us
49
sound knowledge for taking decisions and actions, and finding better solutions to
problems (Verma and Mallick, 1999).
Regarding the above definitions of research, there is an intensified need to consider
systematic inquiry within specific contexts and fields, especially in educational
practice, in order to discover an organized body of knowledge from which to take
informed decisions and actions. As educational research involves systematic enquiry,
collection and analysis of information the researcher has a high level of responsibility
and needs to demonstrate sophisticated research skills to secure credible outcomes and
contribute new knowledge and a better appreciation of the issues involved in the given
context.
Much educational research is concerns transactions between the learner and teacher
within a framework of agreed purposes and underlying procedural values (Pring,
2000). In educational research, studying social phenomena and interpreting the
meanings leads naturally to research that seeks to understand human experience and
both formulate new knowledge and improve it through the research outcomes.
Therefore, I attempt to view social phenomena holistically, systematically reflect on
being an insider researcher, and use complex reasoning that is multifaceted and
iterative to generate new knowledge and bring about change and development.
As Pring (2000) points out, educational researchers need to think in eclectic ways to
handle educational practices within particular contexts. I therefore consider the
problems under investigation from the perspective of getting people to learn and to
understand how actors within the educational system interpret change oriented actions
and improvements in the knowledge and learning cycle.
As action research aims at improvement and development of practice through change
oriented actions within a specific context, the institutional support and commitment of
50
actors within that educational context is crucial for success (Hubbard and Power, 1993;
Mills, 2003). In this respect, this cycle of learning and reflection for change constituted
a serious responsibility in terms of reaching desirable outcomes within the research
context (Pring, 2000; Mills, 2003). As a reflective practitioner, I propose to implement
professional activities for the expansion of professional knowledge in order to achieve
institutional success in change and development (Schön, 1991).
In my work based project, I would have inside knowledge of the problem and issues to
be researched. This was a positive feature of embarking on a work-based project, since
I would know more about the problem and issues within my research context. I would
be able to use my insider position as a strategy to solve problems within the research
setting. My work based project thus proposed to develop a holistic understanding of
the organisation from an insiders’ or emic perspective to capture categories of meaning
in order to explain the causal relationships between organisational actions (Hubbard
and Power, 1993; Silverman, 2000).
In this respect, I attempted to work in collaboration with other members for change
within the workplace through having warm contacts and access to the field. Another
positive influence of being a worker researcher was familiarity with the resources and
being able to find those resources easily. In other words, knowledge about the
organisation was readily accessible. Using the advantage of being an insider
researcher, I could find volunteer members of staff to collaborate with and get
information from them that would help create change within the organisation.
Furthermore, I had access to stakeholders (Academic Affairs, Ministry of Education,
Distance Education Institute and its core members) that would be fundamental to
gaining access to the research site and securing participation on a voluntary basis.
51
Thus, the potential advantage of being a worker researcher is that the researcher knows
more about the organisational culture and climate, understand its members and is
better able to implement proactive decisions and evaluate potential decisions within
the organisation. Being a worker researcher has the genuine potential to increase the
quality of practice in the workplace setting.
The worker researcher must also have the dedication to be critical and proactive within
all stages of the research, questioning, challenging and using specific clues and
patterns to facilitate understanding and organisational change and improvement. The
potential advantages of being a worker researcher as regards my role are listed below:
• Having access to the research context
• Knowing about the history and culture of the organisation
• Having experience in the subject field
• Being close to resources
• Having willingness and intrinsic motivation to change practices
There are however negative aspects to being a worker researcher. The main negative
aspect is being so close to the problem that needs to be investigated. This knowledge
of detail in the research setting could lead to a loss of objectivity. In addition, personal
expectations and values could influence the credibility of my research findings. In
other words, an outsider researcher might be more objective, carrying out research
without bias and expectations. It is incumbent on the worker researcher to use
appropriate research skills accordingly.
There are thus positive and negative aspects of being a worker researcher and clearly
there is a need to be aware of potential risks within the process and maintain a balance
of objectivity, values, and expectations (Armsby, 2000).
The disadvantages of being a worker researcher are summarised below:
52
• Being too close to the problem
• Being affected by personal values and expectations
• Having limited experience of research and ethical considerations
• Dual roles and workloads
In my research project, I had an insider role within work context to propose change
oriented actions for better working practice. As my work based project aimed at
improvements in online course designs by implementing a constructivist approach to
developing particular skills of online students, I had the opportunity to contribute to
both my own and others’ professional knowledge through the participatory action
research process.
My project was applied research which attempts to bridge the gap between theory and
practice for change and innovation (Cotton and Griffiths, 2007). My primary role was
to improve practice in the work setting and develop a learning cycle within which
professionals think and act collaboratively.
Regarding the focus of my work based project, I attempted to be an active, reflective,
facilitator at each stage of the action research process in order to reach desirable
outcomes (Hubbard and Power, 1993). In addition, having dual roles in personal and
professional life, being a member of the Distance Education Institute and a senior
instructor in the Faculty of Education as well as being a researcher in the educational
technology field and being aware of the desired action plan for the Distance Education
Institute all justified the use of a motivated insider aiming at the improvement and
development of online education practice.
Being a motivated insider provided positive insights in the implementation of my
project. Having access to the stakeholders and knowing the potential problems that
needed to be investigated, knowing more about the culture and patterns of the
53
organisation and being close to the resources in the work setting were all advantages of
being a worker researcher. The contributions of my work based research project can be
summarised as follows:
• Internalizing and developing team spirit among members
• Enhancing collegiality based on a continual learning process
• Empowering collaboration among staff and professional bodies,
transferring in-depth knowledge to others
• Improving perspectives on work based projects in working practice for
change
• Finding solutions to context specific problems based on collaboration
Although being a worker researcher has advantages for the researcher and the
participants, there are also disadvantages and potential risks, including being too close
to the research problem, being influenced by one’s own values and expectations, bias,
and dual workload The worker researcher thus needs to manage each step of the
process strategically. I minimised potential risks by considering sensitivity on ethics,
objectivity within the research process, and the implementation of actions from a
strategic perspective. I examine ethical considerations in the following section.
3.6 Ethical Considerations
In this part of the chapter, I explore how a worker researcher can deal with issues of a
confidential or ethical nature while carrying out work based projects. In my own work
based research project, I maintained strict sensitivity towards ethical issues.
Ethics are considered a critical factor within research. Ethics refers to concepts of
anonymity, confidentiality, trust, willingness, transparency, and dignity in research in
the pursuit of valid and reliable results. Ethical principles should be associated with the
54
research focus, the interrelations of research stages and the confidentiality of
participants (Marshall and Rossman, 1999; Cohen et al., 2000).
Ethical concerns may emerge during planning, whilst seeking access to the
organisation and to individuals, or whilst collecting, analysing and reporting research
data (Saunders et al., 2000). Ethics in research are underpinned by the agreements
which researchers enter into with research subjects or contacts. Ethical problems may
arise when there is a conflict of interests which may occur due to the conflicting
demands of confidentiality or anonymity, legality or professionalism.
In qualitative research, the researcher enters the lives of the participants invited to be
part of the study (Marshall, Rossman, 1999). This brings a range of strategic, ethical
and personal issues that researchers need to consider during the inductive process. As
Marshall and Rossman (1999) state:
“these issues can be sorted into technical ones that address entry and the
efficiency in terms of role and interpersonal ones that capture the ethical
and personal dilemmas that arise during the conduct of a study” (p. 79).
In terms of technical considerations, the management of the researcher’s time and
resources and negotiating access are crucial issues that were undertaken in this
research process. Saunders et al. (2000) emphasize that access is a critical aspect of
the conduct of research. It is vital to recognize that access is the continuing process
and not just an initial or single event. In this respect, it could be problematic area, in
terms of gaining permission for physical access, maintaining access, and being able to
create sufficient scope to address research objectives.
Additionally, being an insider researcher raises questions about researcher status in the
organization, which could pose particular problems in relation to cognitive access.
Saunders et al. (2000) discuss problems with cognitive access as follows:
55
“This may be related to suspicions about why you are undertaking your
research project and the use that will be made of data, perceptions about
the part of organization for which you work and your grade status in
relation to those whom you wish to be your research participants”
(p.117).
In this respect, ethical concerns again emerged as the researcher planned research,
sought access to stakeholders and collected, analyzed and reported on data. Therefore,
I considered time, resources for research feasibility, establishing warm contacts with
stakeholders based on negotiations, preparing a research package to inform
participants about the purpose of the research project and its potential benefits to the
organization, having permission and proposing confidentiality through consent forms,
maintaining sensitivity on data collection and analysis, giving guarantees to the
participants about the feedback, and sharing research outcomes through a handbook in
order to prevent ethical pitfalls in the action research process (See Appendix B,
p.187).
Besides these technical considerations, I approached the interpersonal dimension by
building trust, maintaining good relations, and respecting norms of reciprocity through
strategic actions. In my work based research project, experience and professionalism
in research enabled me to justify my capacity to carry out research and reach the
expected outcomes in order to build trust with the stakeholders.
As trust is a critical part of action research and ethics, I demonstrated research skills
and personal energy in establishing and maintaining trust and access and negotiation
before conducting the research and data collection process. In addition, my project
was approved by the institute, university and Ministry of Education as a project to
develop quality in line with the EUA report. This provided support and confidence to
me in this endeavour and encouraged participants to contribute on a voluntary basis,
which is a crucial element in research and ethics (Hubbard and Power, 1993). I thus
56
carefully considered the time and resources available to carry out the research by
being proactive at each stage, and sensitive at all times to accompanying ethics.
My project was a qualitative inquiry with an appropriate approach, data collection
techniques that were driven by research questions, and aims and objectives based on
an extended literature review. Using appropriate data collection techniques for each
particular focus and using triangulation for verification of multiple data interpretation
prevented any pitfall within the research stages (Hubbard and Power, 1993).
During the research, I maintained the privacy and confidentiality of the participants
and although they had the right to withdraw, no one did so at any time. In the consent
forms, the research package and the negotiations with participants, it was also
confirmed that feedback was the part of the research. In addition, participants were
also assured that the research outcomes would be shared with them in the prepared
handbook.
Ethical understanding is a critical success factor in my project that needs to be
discussed in detail. Conducting a funded project based on qualitative research
implying social interaction for the interpretations of experiences of others raises
stressful ethical issues and concerns. Further, carrying out a funded project increased
the high level of responsibility I had as a worker researcher.
EMU initiated collaboration with the Ministry of Education for the funding of the
research project in order to improve the quality of structure and the programs within
the university based on EUA standards. Regarding the EUA report on university wide
research policy and the sustainable need for change in the status of the Distance
Education Institute through various projects (See Appendix A, p.166), I applied for
funding for my project. This put me in a leadership role in which I was responsible for
57
delegating expenditure as well as research action. I therefore had to manage my
leadership role in a strategic and efficient way, using funding for participation at
conferences, training, procedural materials, incentives for participants and the
technical infrastructure of Distance Education Institute as well as implementing the
research itself.
As an insider researcher, gaining funding for my project provided me with the power
and confidence to carry out my work-based research project. In this respect, funding
from the Ministry of Education and EMU become significant official evidence
verifying the importance of my project and my own professional capacity to carry out
a project for innovation and change in my working practice.
Although it is difficult process to gain funding for research projects due to economical
problems and limited resources, the value of my project with its aims and originality
brought success in this regard. This created confidence and trust between me and
participants throughout the research process.
However, there were challenges during the research process. Funds were short and on
occasion I had to supplement the expenditure from my own resources. In addition,
EMU and the Ministry of Education fund projects that require change and innovation
in a short time period. This created stress and a huge workload that I had to manage
with my own personal and professional skills.
I have tried to clarify the issue of power with regard to funded research and consider
the issue of ethics in terms of research implications for stakeholders (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2003). It was essential that ethical principles were guaranteed in my work
based project. In particular, principles such as the anonymity of participants and the
students, maintaining confidentiality and voluntary participation as part of the action
research process, treating data and verifying statements based on cross examination
58
and triangulation, submitting a final copy of the project to the participants and
preparing a beneficial handbook for the university and the ministry that funded the
project were initial considerations before putting the research into practice (Altrichter
et al., 1993).
Further regarding ethical principles, I became sensitive on observing protocol,
negotiating with those affected, reporting progress, accepting responsibility for
maintaining confidentiality and making principles of procedure binding and known.
In observing protocol, I have taken care to ensure that relevant persons, committees,
and authorities have been consulted, informed and that necessary permissions and
approvals have been granted. In addition, I informed the stakeholders - the Distance
Education Institute, Academic Affairs of EMU and Ministry of Education, my
colleagues and the online students through the research package and the consent forms
of all aspects of the process.
I thus kept the work visible and remained open to suggestions throughout the research
process. Further to this, I filed reports on the progress of the project to the university
and the ministry as the main stakeholders in terms of the funding and procedures of
the research process. Within my research journey, I took a strategic approach at every
stage the research process, and this helped me cope with the ethical principles.
3.7 Choice of Data Collection Techniques
The anti-positivist philosophy is a mode of attempting to understand the meaning of
events and interactions in particular situations by the interpretive understanding of
human interaction (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992; Saunders et al., 2000; Denzin and
Lincoln, 2003).
Qualitative research design encapsulates multiple ways of interpreting experiences in
which the meaning of experiences constitutes reality. Choosing multiple research
59
techniques hence enables research to gain insights into one situation from different
angles (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992; Hubbard and Power, 1993; Silverman, 2000;
Denzin and Lincoln, 2003). Systematic inquiry in action research is thus followed by
innovative, evolving data through multiple data collection techniques. Therefore,
triangulation becomes an important part of the choice of data collection techniques and
analytic method for accomplishing valid and reliable research outcomes (Marshall and
Rossman, 1999). It is necessary because different data collection techniques have
different strengths and different weaknesses, and therefore, the possibility of getting a
more complete picture is higher (Hubbard and Power, 1993; Creswell, 1994).
With reference to the above discussion, in-depth interviews, semi-structured interviews
and complementary documentary analysis and focus groups, and self-reports based on
scaling were chosen for my research project, of all which are considered to be
appropriate strategies to obtain in-depth contextually specific information within the
action research process (Marshall and Rossman, 1999; Cohen et al., 2000).
I considered that using multiple data collection techniques could not only provide rich
and valuable information about investigated phenomena, but also test one source of
information against another and examine alternative explanations by bringing different
forms of evidence from different actions through verification of data based on
triangulation.
The following parts of section evaluate the appropriateness of each data collection
technique within the research process. The techniques were reviewed by two experts
and piloted.
60
Issue-Focused In-depth Interview Technique
Interviews can be described as a conversation with purpose. They can be used in the
qualitative inquiry research to cover predetermined response categories with the
attitude that participants’ views are both valuable and useful (Patton, 2002; Bryman,
2004).
According to Cohen et al. (2000), the use of interviews in research marks a move
towards gaining soft, primary data that generates knowledge and meaning through
conversation. Interviews provide opportunities for response-keying, asking, probing,
and rating to understand the perceptions, thoughts and understanding of the issues
under investigation.
Marshall and Rossman (1999) point out that qualitative researchers tend to use in-
depth interviews which are exploratory with pre-determined response categories in
specific issues. Other potential advantages of interviews include getting a large amount
of data quickly, overcoming the inconvenience caused by direct observation; and
gaining control during the process through in-depth, dense information gathering. This
makes it a popular technique in action research.
However, it has limitations such as the likelihood of bias regarding interviewees’
interpretations, or lack of expertise or familiarity with the local language that is used in
the process. In this respect, I considered the potential limitations of using interviews in
action research and became sensitive to ethics to maintain trust and confidentiality
between myself and the participants who were part of the change and learning cycle.
I attempted to employ an issue-focused in-depth interview technique for my research
project. This was considered appropriate for the first focus of my action research,
which was exploration of the current awareness of core members to committed
decision making processes for online course design. This stage thereby provided
61
groundwork for subsequent training about teamwork to encourage online course
design based on collaboration.
In-depth interviews are thus a major data collection technique action research
(Marshall and Rossman, 1999). It is an exploratory type method which provides in-
depth understanding about an issue within a specific context (Saunders et al., 2000). In
my research, in-depth interviews ran for sixty minutes through face to face contacts
with participants using open-ended, issue specific questions to understand the
respondents’ world, opinions, beliefs and perceptions about the research context.
Sixteen core members helped me gather qualitative data through in-depth
conversations to explore their awareness of team work inspiration in the decision
making process for online course design and provide grounds for a further series of
actions within an inductive, continual learning process.
Semi-structured Interviews
Semi-structured interviews are another major data collection technique used in my
research project. They are regarded as the most important form of interviewing in
work based projects due to flexibility in collecting information of a complex nature
(Saunders et al., 2000). In my project, semi-structured interviews were employed at
several points in the inductive process. Firstly, twelve participants were used for
evaluating the awareness of online tutors about the constructivist approach in online
course design. Then, semi-structured interviews were used to evaluate the
implementation of the constructivist approach through online course design. Valuable
data from online tutors and students were gathered from these face to face
conversations. Using semi-structured interviews with tutors and the students also
enabled evaluation of the outcomes of implementing the constructivist approach in
online course design and the research project itself. In these face to face semi-
62
structured interviews, seven online tutors and fourteen students responded to the open,
closed and leading questions, which were reviewed by experts and piloted. In this
respect, semi-structured interviews were a time consuming process, but one which
allowed the collection of valuable data about opinions, experiences and expectations.
Documentary Analysis
I attempt to use documentary analysis as a complementary data collection technique
within the action research process. It can be underlined that information obtained from
the documents could be compared and contrasted to the findings from the other
information sources to determine the true picture of the issue that is investigated.
Documents can be listed as reports, literature, organisational achieves, etc. (Denzin
and Lincoln, 2003).
The documents could complement primary data, or confirm or contradict findings. In
this project, documentary analysis confirmed the obtained information on the
awareness of online tutors about the constructivist approach in online course design. In
this respect, I analyzed four online courses. The prepared checklist helped me evaluate
the course designs regarding to constructivist approach principles and confirmed the
responses of the online tutors in the semi-structured interviews. The technique was
particularly useful for my project in terms of increasing the richness of data concerning
the awareness of tutors about the constructivist approach in online course design and
constructing a “fuller picture” for further action.
Focus Group
Focus groups are another type of interviewing in action research that help observe
sociological processes as collective human interaction (Patton, 2002). It is a
collectivistic data collection technique to gather large amounts of information about
63
human interaction through group involvement and participation in a limited period of
time. It is one of a number of group interview techniques (Creswell, 1994:73).
It has a structured format with an exploratory purpose which pre-tests the problem that
needs to be addressed. Denzin and Lincoln (2003) point out that focus group has the
capacity to reach more than one participant and gather a large amount of information
within a short period of time. In other words, it is not a time consuming technique.
Groupthink is however a possible outcome, although the findings can be generalized.
The researcher role, ethics and the issues of validity and reliability are not very
different from individual interviews. The most important issues in focus groups are the
number of the groups, sampling, and role of researcher in directing conversation and
facilitating confidence for exploration of the participants’ thoughts and experiences. In
addition, it has the clear advantage of enabling observation of interactive processes
among participants. Focus groups were employed in my project to obtain information
about the adaptation process in implementing the constructivist approach into online
course designs based on collaboration between seven online tutors.
In fact, it was difficult to bring this group of people together, since they worked under
a heavy load and had a busy schedule. In this respect, the significance of the research
to participants’ better working practice, and warm contacts helped me gain the
perceptions and experiences of the seven tutors in collaborative course design.
Self-Report
Self-reports were another data collection technique in the research process. They
helped gather data from fourteen online students in relation to the outcome of the
research project. This data collection technique complemented the semi-structured
interviews with the students in order to evaluate the outcomes of the constructivist
based online course design on the skills development of the students.
64
The self-report took the form of self-evaluation of skills development of the students
regarding the impact of constructivist based course design. The self-report included
particular skills and a scaling activity which required rating those skills as none, low,
adequate or high competence. This provided in-depth insights into skills development
in line with the semi-structured interviews (Marshall and Rossman, 1999; Cohen et al.,
2000).
Researcher Diary
I kept a research diary in my project as a technique to confirm or contradict findings
from other sources. It is a valuable tool to collect qualitative data within the inductive
process. It can include details of information about actions and behaviors and reveal
perceptions of events and feelings relating to specific focuses (Altrichter et al., 1993;
Marshall and Rossman, 1999).
I used the diary to note details of every stage of the action research process. As the
researcher diary is one type of document that provides information on critical
incidents, the researcher recorded progress, feelings and insights about the research
process to propose reasonable standards and to confirm interpretations of the data
gathered from multiple data collection techniques.
Observation was another technique that could alternatively have been used. It entails
the systematic noting and recording of events, behaviors and objects in the social
setting of the chosen study. This method assumes that behavior is purposeful and
expressive of deeper values and beliefs. It is used to discover complex interactions in
natural social settings.
Observation is often used in qualitative inquiry. Through observational findings, the
researcher can get primary data if he/she has good observation skills. According to
Saunders et al. (2000), observation can be categorized as participant and structured
65
observations. In participant observations, the researcher attempts to participate fully in
the event but employ systematic structured observation and quantify behaviors.
In spite of the strengths of this technique, it is time consuming and poses ethical
dilemmas and role conflicts. Considering my online context it was inappropriate for
my project. In this respect, the research diary made for a realistic alternative, covering
my observations at every step of the research.
Figure 3 below, describes my action research process and justifies the chosen data
collection techniques in relation to the specific focuses.
Inductive Process by Action Research: Justification of Data Collection
Techniques
Action I:
Action II: Action III: Action IV:
Action V:
Action VII: After the Train
Semi-structured Interviews with online
tutors Focus: Evaluating the awareness of online tutors about constructivist theory
Documentary Analysis Focus: Analyzing the course designs of online courses based on the principles of constructivist approach
Focus: Training online tutors on how to
design online courses based on the constructivist approach
In-depth Interviews
Focus: Exploring the team inspiration of the institute
Training the institute members about team work culture
66
Action VI: Action VII: Action VIII:
Outcomes of the Research (Handbook and Evaluation on Efficiency of Project)
Figure 3. Inductive Process by Action Research: Justification of Data Collection
Techniques.
3.8 Data Analysis and Triangulation
Data analysis is the process of bringing order, structure and interpretation to the mass
of collected data. Qualitative data analysis is the search among data to identify content
for research questions and focus and establish truth (Marshall and Rossman, 1999;
Denzin and Lincoln, 2003).
In addition, data analysis is also an inductive process in qualitative inquiry involving
systematically searching and arranging the materials gathered to increase
Adaptation Process of New Approach (Focus Group Activity with online tutors)
Semi-structured Interviews Self-Report based on Scaling (Online students) Focus: Investigating the role of constructivist approach in developing particular skills
Semi-structured Interviews (Online tutors)
Focus: Investigating the changes of on teaching philosophy of tutors and examining skills development of online students
Keeping Diary at Each Stage
Triangulating Data
67
understanding and transfer that understanding to others. In short, analysis involves
working with data, organizing them, breaking them into manageable units,
synthesizing them, searching for patterns, discovering what is important and what is to
be learned and deciding what to tell others (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992).
It is crucial to guard against failing to carry out a true analysis. Qualitative research
considers meanings, values, experiences and it can be difficult to analyze those
patterns (Bryman, 2004). In this respect, I paid attention to strategies in qualitative
data analysis process which would provide a guarantee of data quality through using
multiple data collection and data triangulation and cross-examination.
Qualitative research relies on an inductive process in which data illustrates meanings,
and experiences are expressed through words. Qualitative data collection results in
non-standardized data requiring classification into categories. Therefore, qualitative
analysis is conducted through the use of conceptualization (Saunders et al., 2000).
Qualitative data analysis is stated to be both interpretive and eclectic in nature.
Creswell (1994) describes data analysis in qualitative research process as follows:
“In qualitative analysis, several simultaneous activities engage the attention
of the researcher: collecting information from the field, sorting information
into categories, formatting the information into a picture” (Creswell,
1994:153).
In addition, Creswell (1994) points out that reduction of data and interpretation are the
key elements within the qualitative data analysis. In this research, the qualitative data
was reduced and interpreted according to feasibility in the action research process. The
research process included a series of actions based on action research and was
participatory research through which people work towards the improvement of their
own practice in an inductive learning cycle (Cohen et al., 2000).
In this respect, I undertook conceptual analysis for the huge amount of data gathered
from the multiple data collection techniques. Therefore, I considered basic themes
68
from the literature in relation to my research focus in order to interpret and analyze
data in an inductive manner.
The basic themes of negotiation, knowledge sharing and collaboration for team work
culture were examined to reveal the practice of team work culture within my working
practice. In addition, the principles of the constructivist approach which consists of
collaborative learning, communication, group work, diverse topics, course design
materials, assignments and projects, and the proposing of multiple perspectives helped
me understand and interpret the notions of the constructivist approach within online
courses. These themes also became signposts to interpret the developing skills of the
students within online learning and teaching process.
It is often said that there is no right way to analyze such voluminous data. Careful
attention to how data were reduced was necessary throughout the research in terms of
data management. Therefore, I undertook triangulation to manage the data view the
collected data through a series of different lenses for the purpose of the investigation.
Silverman (2000) defines data triangulation in qualitative inquiry as follows:
“Triangulation refers to the attempt to get a true fix on a situation by
combining different ways of looking at it or different findings (Silverman,
2000:177).
In my research project, I conducted de-contextualization in order to reduce voluminous
amount of information to certain patterns, categories, themes and then interpreted this
information by using schema in relation to the research actions and their focuses.
Using different data collection techniques to gain insights from each action provided a
convergence among the sources of information which was difficult to manage and
interpret. The data triangulation however helped better understand the concepts being
explored and verify the findings for credible research (Creswell, 1994).
69
As part of the qualitative data analysis, I also conducted content analysis for my
research project. Content analysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of
certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2000).
Researchers quantify and analyze the presence, meanings and relationships of words
and concepts, then make inferences about the messages within the texts, the writer(s),
the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part. Texts can be
defined broadly as books, book chapters, essays, interviews, discussions, newspaper
headlines and articles, historical documents, speeches, conversations, advertising,
theater, informal conversation, or really any occurrence of communicative language.
To conduct a content analysis on any such text, the text is coded, or broken down, into
manageable categories on a variety of levels--word, word sense, phrase, sentence, or
theme--and then examined using one of content analysis' basic methods: conceptual
analysis or relational analysis.
In my project, conceptual analysis was undertaken in that I set and categorized themes
of actions in the research. In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination,
and the analysis involves quantifying and tallying its presence. It is also known as
thematic analysis in that it looks at the occurrence of selected terms within a text or
texts, although the terms may be implicit as well as explicit (Saunders et al., 2000;
Bryman, 2004; Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008).
In my research project, I imposed order by categorizing data regarding to themes for
each action and then included my own ideas and impressions within the research
process. Triangulation compensated for weaknesses in individual data collection
techniques and helped in the verification of the data for credible qualitative research.
In this qualitative study, data collection and analysis typically go hand in hand to build
a coherent interpretation of the data.
70
My research aimed to create awareness in institute members of committed decision
making processes for course design and propose a sequence of actions to change the
structure of course design in relation to the constructivist approach, thereby also
contributing to the professional growth of participants during the research process.
Regarding the broader phases of the research project, the in-depth interview was an
appropriate starting data collection technique to explore the awareness of Institute
members regarding collaborative decision making process about course design. In-
depth interviews helped me gather primary data on team work inspiration. As stated,
the interviews ran for sixty minutes in order to gain in-depth meanings from Institute
members’ perceptions and experiences. The questions were open-ended and had been
reviewed and piloted by experts.
The sixteen institute members participated in face to face exploratory interviews based
on purposive sampling and aiming to find out what is happening and to seek new
insights (Saunders et al., 2000). I succeeded in managing access and permission in the
work context; the questions were reviewed and piloted, thereby increasing the
credibility and data quality. The process of interviewing started with permission,
access and scheduling and was finalised with transcription and interpretation. During
the process, I was flexible with regard to scheduling, and was careful not to attribute
bias, values, and interpretations within the data analysis (Marshall and Rossman, 1999;
Wiesenberg and Stacey, 2005). I analyzed the data using content analysis based on
conceptual analysis through specific themes based on coding and categories.
The second phase of my research project was the training which focused on creating
awareness of team work within the Institute. I delivered the training in relation to
contributions of collective decision making process to course design within the
71
Institute. The content of the training was reviewed by experts. My observations and
experiences in this regard provided significant evidence in the analysis.
After the training, I conducted semi-structured interviews in order to evaluate the
awareness of the twelve online tutors about the constructivist approach in course
design. The aim of these face to face interactions was to obtain a large amount of data
from online tutors in relation to the focus. The technique exploited specific
organizational content relevant to my research focus (Saunders et al., 2000:245). Thus,
I had a list of themes and questions to be covered and the order of the questions varied
depending on the flow of the conversation. The conversations with tutors were tape
recorded.
In the data analysis process, I attempted content analysis to guide further steps by
converting the qualitative data into quantitative categories. Data quality issues,
researchers’ interviewing competences, logistical and resource issues are possible
challenges within semi-structured interviews. As with the in-depth interviews, I
attempted to consider possible solutions to these possible challenges in advance
(Marshall and Rossman, 1999; Wiesenberg and Stacey, 2005).
Along with the semi-structured interviews; I attempted to review the structure of the
online courses by gathering secondary data from the existing course designs.
Reviewing the course designs as documents and as material culture helped compare
and triangulate the semi-structured interview findings. In the course design analysis,
researcher categories and coding of the themes about constructivist approach
principles through a checklist provided the confidence to interpret the data (Curtis and
Lawson, 2001; Whatley and Bell, 2003).
The next action proposed training to develop the insights of online tutors on the
constructivist approach and its principles. This training was prepared for online tutors
72
to integrate this approach in their courses through negotiation and discussion with their
colleagues. Again, the content of the training was reviewed by experts. The training
facilitated the professional development of the tutors in terms of pedagogical
knowledge.
After the training, there was an integration and adaptation process for the constructivist
approach into online course designs. During this period of time, I used the focus group
as a data collection technique in order to know what is happing and act immediately if
anything did not work. The focus group was conducted with seven online tutors based
on purposive sampling. Throughout the adaptation process, I used the focus group to
create collaboration between tutors and discuss the adaptation process whilst
considering possible further actions as a reflective, active researcher.
The focus group was the data collection technique through which collective
interactions, and experiences of how social situations or events appeared to
participants were gathered in a limited period of time. Focus groups are one type of the
group interview with a formal setting, a directive role for the researcher, a structured
questions format and an exploratory process. Focus groups are inexpensive to conduct
and produce rich data. However, they are not without problems. I paid particular
attention to the creation of groupthink among participants in order to generalize data in
accuracy.
Content analysis as a form of conceptual analysis was used for data analysis in relation
to the categories that were formed from the literature review. With the participants’
permission, I taped the interviews in order to obtain a concrete record of their
interactions.
After the integration and adaptation process, the next steps covered the outcomes of
the change. I conducted semi-structured interviews with seven online tutors in this
73
regard. The interviews helped investigate changes in the teaching philosophy of the
tutors and the skills development of the students. The structure of the semi-structured
interviews was also reviewed by experts and piloted.
The interviews with the online tutors provided me with their reflections on changes in
their teaching philosophy and skills development of online students through the new
approach and enabled me to assess the success of the action plan (Peel and Shortland,
2004; Osborn and Theodore, 2005).
In order to further investigate the role of the constructivist approach based course
design in developing the skills of students, I conducted semi-structured interviews for
gathering primary data through face to face interactions with fourteen online students
based on purposive sampling on a voluntary basis. The interviews helped gather large
amounts of data about the experiences and perceptions of the students. The questions
were reviewed by experts and piloted. I used conceptual content analysis for the data
interpretation.
Parallel to the semi-structured interviews, I distributed self-reports based on scaling to
online students to examine the development of particular skills. These self-reports
provided primary data and were complementary to the semi-structured interviews. In
addition, the self-reports revealed both interconnections and contradictions in the data
from the semi-structured interviews.
The self-report scaling assessed skills as none, low, adequate or high. It was adapted
from Bennett et al. (1999). The reports were analysed through themes emerging from
my interpretation.
Within the research process, keeping a diary provided theoretical and practical insights
about every step of action taken as a worker researcher (Rowley, 2003). I used
triangulation to verify findings from the multiple data collection process. The
74
preparation of a handbook after an evaluation of my project constituted the creation of
a coherent process to support quality improvements in my working practice. Figure 4
below illustrates the triangulation of data for the verification of qualitative data in the
inductive process.
Data Collection Techniques
Research Theory, Practice
Diary Actions
Figure 4. Triangulating Data.
Hubbard and Power (1993) simply describe triangulation in action research as the use
of multiple sources to support findings. In my research data triangulation helped
overcome the challenge of data quality from single source, and also manage and
interpret the large amount of data arising from multiple data collection. The
triangulation was key to the verification process. The collected data were analyzed
through conceptual content analysis and I categorized the themes of actions according
to each focus within the inductive process (Creswell, 1994; Verma and Mallick, 1999;
Cohen et al., 2000; Bryman, 2004).
3.9 Concluding Remarks
This chapter has detailed research philosophy, design, approach and procedures. For
my research project qualitative research design was undertaken and an action research
approach adopted in line with my research focus. Through the research design, it was
possible to develop a richer, deeper understanding of online course design based on a
constructivist approach and team work among online tutors in designing online
courses.
75
I collected data from core members, online tutors and students in the Distance
Education Institute. The collected data was analyzed through employing an inductively
driven approach based on content analysis. I also outlined research access issues and
ethical considerations within this chapter. Triangulation was emphasized in relation to
multiple data collection techniques. I present the action research project activities and
findings in the following chapters.
76
CHAPTER IV
PROJECT ACTIVITY
4.1 Introduction
This chapter of my project covers the project activities that were undertaken in
participatory action research through four cycles with specific objectives to propose
better working practice in my work context. It starts by giving details about the focus
of my work based research project, my research context and my chosen research
approach. The chapter then provides detailed explanations on each action research
cycle with their specific objectives in my research project. Further to this, it discusses
what actions I considered in my research and how I implemented these actions in the
work based research project within the action research cycle. The chapter concludes
with my evaluation of the action research process and my role as action researcher in
my work based research project.
4.2 My Work-based Research Project
My project had a positive impact on the workplace by considering change and
innovation in online practice. It is about making a difference, about examining what is
and what ought to be and turning that into action. Therefore, my reflections are
intended to stress what I do, why I do it and how I might change the circumstances of
actions that lead to the solutions of my work setting problems.
In a project based on experiential learning and active experimentation, I played the
role of both worker and researcher to provide insights into my institutional
development and achieve success with my practical work. I had the chance to both
work for my own professional development and develop my colleagues’ knowledge
and experiences of how to prepare and design online courses. (Middlesex University
Module Guide Handbook, 2008).
77
My project mainly focuses on the creation of team work in the Distance Education
Institute and on the role of course design based on a constructivist approach in
developing critical thinking skills of online students. The project was based on
implementing four cycles of participatory action research.
My work based research project targeted volunteer core members of the institute, and
students as research participants. The online tutors were the key characters in that my
project aimed to enhance their knowledge of how to collaboratively design online
courses. I divided the online tutors into project teams depending on their subject fields,
and experiences. In order to develop team spirit, these teams came together to
negotiate the process of designing the online courses. Thirteen online tutors and the
director of the Institute, technical staff and the director of the Tourism Department
participated. There were four team projects in total. One of the teams had four online
tutors with experience in teaching online courses and some ‘unconscious’ knowledge
of implementing some principles of the constructivist approach. These tutors were
from School of Tourism Hospitality and Architecture, Economics Departments.
Another team had four online tutors from the English Preparatory School with no
knowledge about constructivist based online course design. They participated in my
research to gain insights for use in preparations for online English courses planned for
the following year. The Tourism team meanwhile were candidate tutors for the online
master degree program. They participated to gain insight into how to design
constructivist based online courses and to extend their knowledge of teamwork
activities. One tutor from the General Education Department also participated in the
project, for similar reasons. Fourteen online students became part of my project in
order to help evaluate the outcomes of the process.
78
As indicated in the previous chapters, my project was based on four action research
cycles each with its own objectives and activities intended to reach those objectives.
Each cycle included asking questions, collecting data, analyzing, reflecting, planning
action steps and positive action for change as critical components as related to the
specific objectives. Success was heavily dependent on careful evaluation of each
phase, and, finally, on the reflection of the activity into enhanced institutional and
professional development.
The four cycles in conjunction with the project activities developed collaboration and
team work among the tutors in designing the online courses, and the integration and
implementation of constructivist approach into online course designs. Deliberate
actions within the research meanwhile enhanced their professional growth by
providing pedagogical insights into how to design online courses and develop the
skills of online students.
4.3 Getting Started
My project was a type of experiential learning. Hence, preparations and careful
consideration of detail and strategy were essential prior to the commencement of the
project. Getting started encompassed an in-depth literature review, preparation of data
collection techniques and questions, designing a research package and developing
communication links between research participants, consultants, colleagues and my
supervisor, as well as scheduling meetings with the online tutors.
The networking began with a meeting with the Director of the Distance Education
Institute and the sending of invitation letters to online tutors in order to give detailed
information about my research project. These activities helped me gain access to my
research context. I attempted to encourage voluntary participation of online tutors
79
through phone conversations in which I tried to give detailed information about the
aim of the research, and the significant roles of tutors within it.
After that I arranged face to face meetings with core members of institute in order to
give them a research package which had been prepared as a guidebook to my research
process. The package enabled me to ensure that online tutors were well informed about
my research procedures. In addition, I secured agreement with core members about
their participation in the research through the signing of participant information sheets
(See Appendix B, p.187).
I further prepared a schedule of actions according to the four cycles in the participatory
action research and informed the participants in advance in order to start the process in
a planned and efficient manner as well as with the confidence of mutual agreement.
4.4 My Research Journey
Within the action research framework, four cycles were put into practice, each with
specific objectives, strategic activities and feedback phase. In each cycle, I
concentrated on asking questions, collecting data, analysing, reflecting, and planning
actions and positive action for change as critical components of the cycle. This process
is illustrated below:
Objective: Evaluating current situation and creating team work culture
Action I
In-depth interviews
Action II
Training
(Keeping research diary)
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for
change
CYCLE I
80
Objective: Evaluating the awareness of tutors about constructivist approach
Objective: Implementing constructivist approach into online course designs
Objective: Evaluating the outcome of the process
Feedback on efficiency and success
Figure 5. My Research Journey.
Action III
Semi-structured
interviews
Action IV
Documentary Analysis
(Keeping research diary)
Action V
Training
Action VI
Focus Group
(Keeping research diary)
Action VII
Semi-structured
interviews
Action VIII
Semi-structured
Interviews
Self-report
(Keeping research diary)
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for
change
CYCLE II
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for
change
CYCLE III
1. Asking Questions
2. Collecting data
3. Analyzing
4. Reflecting
5. Planning actions
6. Positive action for
change
CYCLE IV
81
Throughout this chapter, I reflect on the objectives of the action research cycles, how
the process worked, and what motivated or hindered my actions in completing my
project in a constructive way.
Cycle I
The objective of this cycle was to explore team spirit in my work context and to create
a team work culture for collaboration and commitment of core members in change and
development. Regarding this objective, I conducted in-depth interviews with the core
members who had volunteered to be part of the project.
In-depth interviews provided the opportunity to ask questions in order to understand
what was happening and to collect data to confirm the realities. Reflective analysis
regarding the in-depth interviews helped plan further action, specifically training to
enhance awareness of team work culture and create that culture within the work
context. Thus both the training and the feedback on its effectiveness constituted
positive action for change. Cycle I thus included in-depth interviews and training as
two distinct activities for reaching the specific objectives of this cycle. These two
activities are now examined in more detail:
Action I: In examining the team work culture of the Distance Education Institute for
collaborative decision making while designing online courses, in-depth interviews
were chosen as a data collection technique. Through this technique, I aimed to collect
data, and analyze to what extent the Institute displayed teamwork and collaboration in
the design of online courses.
Therefore, in-depth interview questions were designed, considering dimensions of
teamwork including customer and inter-team issues, roles and interdependence,
communication and conflict management, team member skills, clarity of team goals,
decision-making authority and accountability, and support from the organization. Nine
82
questions were prepared based on an in-depth literature review and these questions
were piloted and reviewed by two experts to ensure validity and reliability (See
Appendix C, p.189). Sixteen institute members participated. These were the director of
the Institute, technical staff, one tutor from Economics, one tutor from Architecture,
the director of Tourism and Hospitality Management, four tutors from Tourism and
Hospitality Management, one tutor from General Education Department, and five
tutors from the English Preparatory School.
This first action was the critical step in terms of creating a successful communication
flow during my research process. As a base line measurement for my research project,
it was significant to know about the perceptions and experiences of the institute’s
members regarding team work and team spirit in order to construct knowledge and
further develop a team-based environment. Although it was a challenge to schedule an
appropriate date and time for the interviews, having warm contacts with participants,
and providing information about the process through the research packages proved to
be successful strategies.
The sixty minute interviews comprised nine exploratory questions. These questions
aimed to explore how members defined team work in their work setting, how they
came together to decide on courses, how decision-making process worked and what
they thought about the advantages of team work within the Institute. I was happy to
see the willingness of each participant to propose change and development for working
practice and this in itself enhanced my own dedication to the project. At this early
stage, the experience of conducting participatory action research and being a worker
researcher was still new and challenging for me, so this early success was an important
element in providing the foundation for change, development and better working
practice.
83
Action II: The second action involved training to create awareness of team work and
establish a team work culture within the Institute, particularly in designing online
courses with a new approach. The training aimed to encapsulate the broadening of
knowledge and development of practice of online tutors regarding how to
collaboratively design their courses within their project teams (See Appendix D,
p.190).
For the training, I prepared an information package which explained teamwork,
decision making processes and project and a powerpoint presentation. These
documents were reviewed by experts prior to use. Further to this, I prepared a
feedback form including five questions to appraise the contributions of the training and
to determine whether online tutors gained knowledge about how to be a project team
(See Appendix E, p.200).
I delivered the training to institute members on the basis of certain key themes. These
themes mainly covered what team work is, how members need to work together in
decision-making processes and how team projects function to propose change and
development. Informal conversations with members created confidence that they
became more aware of changing practice and developing professional learning through
collaborative practice.
The training was delivered to the different target groups, or project teams. The training
to the online tutors had the nature of a meeting. The provision of a cocktail also
created a warm atmosphere for the research and put the participants in a positive frame
of mind.
Firstly, I delivered training to the four experienced tutors in the meeting room of the
School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. In this meeting, I explored in depth
the responsibilities of project teams and established a meeting schedule for these
84
members. These four experienced tutors welcomed the prospect of working together
and underlined that training provided great contributions to them in order to meet,
delegate and collaborate for better working performance.
After that, I conducted training with the five tutors of the English Preparatory School
who proposed to open online courses and programme for the next year. This training
was conducted in the meeting room of the English Preparatory School. They showed
willingness to be part of the training in order to extend their knowledge of being in a
project team and develop a team work culture as an online tutor committee. There was
much discussion and negotiation among the tutors as to how to construct team work
and collaboration in online course design and delivery. It was thus a productive
meeting which developed both awareness and knowledge.
The next training session was delivered to the Tourism and Hospitality Management
Department whose new online master degree programme and new online courses were
scheduled to open the following year. This training was also conducted in the meeting
room of the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. The director and five
tutors participated in the training.
The tutor from the General Education department and the Institute director, and
technical staff were also informed about the insights on teamwork culture for course
design emerging from the training. During the training, I distributed files to the
participants including pencil, powerpoint slides, and the training feedback form
motivating them to turn their attention to “what is happening and what will be” with
regard to the steps to follow.
The project team training was a reflective process in which to evaluate the current
team work culture and construct new ways of understanding team work and
collaboration for online course design. Therefore, the reflections on how to work
85
together were an initial success in transferring knowledge and promoting professional
learning through participatory action research.
Cycle II
The objective of this cycle was to evaluate the awareness of online tutors about the
constructivist approach. Regarding this objective, I conducted semi-structured
interviews with online tutors. In line with the semi-structured interviews, I did
documentary analysis of online course design to complement the data from the semi-
structured interviews.
Before conducting the interviews and documentary analysis, an extended literature
review of the principles of the constructivist approach and suggested competencies of
online tutors helped me understand what was happening in the online courses within
my own context. The semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis enabled me
to collect data and analyze, interpret and reflect on reality in useful and meaningful
way, as a precursor to positive action for change.
The following section describes the activities implemented and how the objectives of
cycle II were accomplished:
Action III: This action helped me examine the awareness of the tutors about the
constructivist approach and was critical in the rationale of my project and its
importance for my working practice.
I conducted semi-structured interviews in order to evaluate the awareness of online
tutors about the constructivist approach while designing their online courses. I
designed the interview questions considering the principles of constructivism from the
literature. I designed fourteen questions which were piloted and reviewed by experts
(See Appendix F, p.202).
86
Before conducting these semi-structured interviews with online tutors, I faced the
challenge of finding an appropriate time and date for the face to face meetings. It was a
hard process for me to persuade and arrange the exact time and date for the meeting as
at this point the tutors were complaining about huge workloads and course schedules.
They also showed unwillingness to be involved in semi-structured interviews due to
the subject. After a week long struggle to arrange the interviews, I observed and
understood through informal conversations that the problem was that the tutors were
not confident with the constructivist approach and lacked the knowledge to practice
this approach in online course design. The semi-structured interview process thus
proved to be a milestone in my research action, since it showed in very strong terms
the significance of my project.
The semi-structured interviews were approximately thirty minutes long and ran for
three weeks with tutors from different departments. I visited each tutor in their office.
The four experienced tutors involved in my semi-structured interviews had more
confidence and awareness about online course delivery even when they had a lack of
knowledge regarding constructivism and how to prepare and design online courses.
Then, I conducted semi-structured interviews with the five tutors of the English
Preparatory School. Before I conducted these interviews, all these tutors underlined
that they had no preliminary idea about the constructivist approach and asked for
training and help on how to prepare and design online courses based on the
constructivist approach.
This provided a concrete example of the significance of evaluating awareness of tutors
and then delivering training to help them construct knowledge on contemporary
standards in online education. The two representative tutors from the Tourism and
Hospitality Management Department were also involved in semi-structured interviews.
87
Although this department was in the initial stages of opening a new programme for a
master’s degree and online courses, I attempted to evaluate awareness and current
perceptions of tutors on how to prepare and design online course based on the
constructivist approach. These volunteer tutors also demanded training and help in
online course design.
Finally, I conducted a semi-structured interview with one tutor from the General
Education Department. This tutor had prior knowledge of the constructivist approach
from the traditional classrooms and was willing to express thoughts and discuss
experiences. I observed that the semi-structured interviews created willingness and
interest in the tutors. Thus, this action provided a start to the learning cycle in that the
tutors had started to get involve in change and consider how to prepare and design
online courses based on the constructivist approach.
Action IV: In line with the semi-structured interviews and the cycle II objective, I also
conducted documentary analysis. The documentary analysis helped confirm the results
of the semi-structured interviews. I prepared a checklist to analyze the course designs
of online tutors based on the principles of the constructivist approach. This checklist
was derived from the suggestions of professionals and the relevant literature. This
checklist was also piloted and reviewed by experts (See Appendix G, p.203).
During the semi-structured interviews, I examined the tutors’ online courses to
establish whether they attempted to use principles of the constructivist approach in
their courses. This helped me to cross-check the awareness of tutors about the
constructivist approach from the interviews.
To do this, I got official permission from the tutors and the Institute to enter each
online course. Although getting official permission took time and effort, the Institute
provided a password to me in order to follow course activities. Due to the nature of
88
authority and the centralized system within the university, it was hard to get official
sanction immediately for implementing the process. However, after receiving it, I
analyzed the design of four online courses put together by the experienced tutors from
Tourism and Hospitality Management, Economics, and Architecture Departments.
The other tutors could not be part of this action since only four courses were then
currently active. Therefore, the courses ARCH 329 (History and Culture of Cyprus),
ECON 431 (Gender and Development), TOUR 509 (Contemporary Issues in
International Hospitality and Tourism Management), and TOUR 506 (Financial
Management in Tourism and Hospitality Management) were analyzed.
For the analysis, I evaluated twenty-five criteria on the principles of the constructivist
approach, focusing on course objectives, learning activities and outcomes, learning
resources, grading, assignments, learning and teaching methods, relationship with life
and other courses, and communication links.
Whilst analyzing the courses, I faced technical problems entering courses and being
online for a long time period. To overcome this, I delegated technical staff in order to
deal with technical problems in online courses and provide scheduled technical
training to online tutors to solve problems immediately. This provided both tutors and
myself with valuable technical knowledge and contributed to our professional learning.
Cycle III
The objective of this cycle in my work based research project was to implement the
constructivist approach into online course design in my work context. Regarding this
objective, I planned and delivered training to the online tutors about how to prepare
and design online courses based on the principles of the constructivist approach.
At the end of the training, feedback forms of the tutors helped me understand how the
training had worked and what further action was required for positive change. After
89
the training, the process of implementing this new approach into online courses
commenced.
During this phase, I conducted focus group activity which led me to be proactive in
providing immediate feedback and guidance to online tutors while they were
implementing the new approach. My reflections on the training and focus group
activity regarding the objective of cycle III are as follows.
Action V: Training was the first action in the cycle III and aimed to increase the
awareness of online tutors on how to prepare and design online courses based on the
constructivist approach. This was definitely productive to the participants and to
myself in terms of learning and constructing new knowledge in a collaborative
atmosphere.
The training provided participants with the opportunity to learn from each other and
gain new perspectives on how to prepare and design online courses through
negotiation and discussions with their colleagues. Before delivering the training, I
prepared detailed information about constructivist pedagogy, principles and
constructivist based course design to present participants in a research package.
I also prepared powerpoint handouts for online tutors in order to encourage them to
take notes and write down questions during my presentation. The material was
reviewed by experts to ensure that it was relevant and valuable to participants (See
Appendix D, p.190).
Further to this, I prepared a feedback form comprising four questions to evaluate the
contributions of the training. This feedback form significantly helped me evaluate
whether online tutors gained insights from the training on how to design their online
courses based on the constructivist approach (See Appendix E, p.200).
90
Action VI: The sixth action comprised group interviews which aimed to evaluate what
was happening during the adaptation process of implementing the constructivist
approach into online course design. In particular, it was important to analyze the initial
impact of constructivist based course design on the learning and skills development of
students and the advantages of the action learning process for the professional growth
of online tutors regarding constructivist approach based online pedagogy. I prepared
three group interview questions in consultation with professionals (See Appendix H,
p.204).
The interviews were held in the Tourism and Hospitality Management Department
meeting room and the three questions were the basis for analyzing the process and to
establish what action should be taken in the case of any problem during the adaptation
process. The questions covered what actions helped or hindered the implementation of
the constructivist approach, what tutors thought was the preliminary impact of this
approach on the learning and skills development of students, and what tutors thought
were the advantages of being involved in action learning for professional growth.
For the focus group activity, I targeted seven tutors who delivered online courses in the
2008-2009 Spring Academic Semester. These tutors included four from Tourism and
Hospitality Management, one from General Education, one from Economics, and one
from the Architecture Department.
Within a warm and friendly atmosphere, the volunteer tutors actively responded to the
focus group questions and were very happy to share what they learned and
implemented and how they became successful in the implementation of the new
approach.
In the focus group, the tutors had the chance to share their experiences with their
colleagues. At the same time, they negotiated and found solutions to problems. To give
91
a concrete example, they shared the idea of using a learning portfolio and established a
mutual understanding that portfolios can be a very good way of motivating students
and enhancing learning. The focus group activity thus enabled tutors to give
suggestions to each others and to learn what others had gained from the process. This
helped me understand how the reflections of tutors could drive the action research and
learning process. After the focus group activity, I visited the research participants to
give them an incentive in order to thank them for their contributions to my research
process and motivate them in further actions.
Cycle IV
The objective of this cycle was to evaluate the outcomes of implementing the
constructivist approach into online course designs in terms of developing the learning
and skills of online students. In relation to this objective, I prepared semi-structured
interviews for both volunteer online students and tutors.
In addition to this, I prepared a self-report based on scaling in order to obtain the
reflections of the online students regarding the same specific objective. The semi-
structured interviews and self-reports of the online students were the data collection
techniques for me to collect data, analyze, interpret and reflect on the outcomes. These
outcomes would help me in the planning of further action such as the dissemination of
project results to professionals and preparing academic papers as further positive
support for changes in the academic agenda.
The impact of cycle IV is considered further below:
Action VII: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven online tutors who
implemented the constructivist approach into their course design. The interviews were
intended to investigate changes in teaching philosophy of tutors and examine the skills
development of the online students.
92
I prepared eleven questions for the semi-structured interviews with tutors. (See
Appendix I, p.205). These questions aimed to confirm the outcomes of the project in
relation to the role of course design in developing the learning and skills of online
students. The eleven questions in the semi-structured interviews elicited information
about changes in the teaching philosophy of online tutors in relation to practice of
constructivist online pedagogy and its principles. The questions covered how the tutors
designed their online courses after the training, what components of the courses
motivated students to learn better, what learning activities were considered, how a
collaborative learning environment was established, which skills of the students were
targeted for development, and how they assessed student performance.
The first semi-structured interviews were conducted with the four tutors in Tourism
and Hospitality Management who had delivered department courses during the
semester. I visited each of the tutors in their offices for the interviews. These
interviews were conducted on the same day at different times and places.
Tutors were very pleased to respond. They expressed their feelings and thoughts about
the project and stated that they had gaining much pedagogical insight from my
research process. Each of the tutors submitted research packages to me.
I then conducted interviews with the tutors in the Economics, Architecture and General
Education Departments. These tutors also showed a willingness to reflect on the
changes in their teaching philosophy. At the end of the interviews, the tutors stated
how pleased they had been to be part of the project. The tutors also submitted their
research packages with their participant information sheets and consent forms.
Action VIII: The final phase involved semi-structured interviews and self-reports
based on a student scaling activity aiming to investigate the role of course design in
93
developing transferable skills in online students. The scaling system was adapted from
Bennet et al. (1999) (See Appendix J, p.206).
I prepared twelve questions for the semi-structured interview with volunteer online
students from seven different courses in order to examine skills development (See
Appendix K, p.207). The challenge in this stage was to locate online students who had
not had regular classroom meetings with tutors during the semester. The tutors helped
me overcome this challenge by asking volunteer participants to the research process.
For each course, two students involved in the research process responded to the semi-
structured interviews and self-reports. Thus, in total, fourteen students contributed to
this stage of the project.
What was interesting was how excited and interested the students were to understand
how and why I conducted this research project. They were extremely happy to be part
of the project. Before conducting the interviews and getting the self-report responses, I
delivered orientation for each student on what the research aimed to achieve, and how
the research process functioned with the help of the course instructors. This helped all
participants towards a mutual understanding. In addition, each participant filled and
signed participant information sheets and consent forms. Finally, in informal
conversations, the participants stated their pleasure at being involved in the process.
Although this stage was difficult to complete, it was very productive in gathering data
about the investigation.
Research Diary
My research diaries provided reflections on the process and my research experiences.
It also helped triangulate data and confirm the validity and reliability of the data and
findings. In my diary, the research actions were explored in order. The diary began
with the preparation process and the drafting of my introduction, extended literature
94
review and methodology. At the same time, I provided reflections on what the
preparation process contributed to my professional learning, and mapped out further
strategic action according to the literature review and methodology. I also explored my
contacts and communications with advisors, consultants and stakeholders. This process
enhanced both my research skills and my communication skills, and I realized that my
DProf journey was part of a life-long learning experience of benefit both to myself,
and, hopefully, to other researchers.
In the second part of the diary, I kept extended notes about the preparation of data
collection techniques and the ongoing networking with participants, consultants and
advisor. The preparations of data collection techniques, and in particular the reviewing
and piloting of questions were the most difficult stages. I rewrote the questions three
times during the reviewing and piloting phases. The questions were reviewed by two
experts and then finalized. The research package for participants in the meantime
included the aim, significance and actions of the project as well as the consent forms.
With the distribution of the package to the participants, I got deeper insight on the
importance of ethics and the importance of conducting preliminary meetings and
conversations with participants during distribution of research package to explain how
the research process worked. I reflected on the skills I developed in my research diary.
These skills can be listed as adaptation, communication, delegation and high level
responsibility for leadership.
The third part of my diary included my reflections on the research in relation to the
four cycles of the action research approach. I concentrated the on eight actions that my
research project covered. The first action - in-depth interviews with the institute’s
members regarding team practice and spirit revealed that team culture was lacking, and
95
that the participants had little prior experience of working together for change and
development.
In action two, which was training on teamwork culture, I reflected on the constructive
nature of developing a teamwork creating culture of teamwork and how it laid the
grounds for further development of both the project and institutional development. I
noted that by the end of the training, participants were extremely willing to work
together for change and development.
Action three was the semi-structured interviews to examine the awareness of the
constructivist approach. The limited data from participants showed that tutors had
limited knowledge and experience of constructivism in online courses. Informal
conversations confirmed the problem. Documentary analysis was employed to
investigate the same aim in action three, and largely confirmed that tutors had little
prior knowledge of how to prepare and design online courses based on the
constructivist approach.
My diary reflections confirmed that the collected data and observations from my
research process had relevance and interrelations in terms of interpreting the data in a
valid and reliable way. The reflections confirmed the necessity for action five, which
was training for increasing the awareness of constructivism in online course design.
During this action, I noted that the participants were very pleased and excited to be
learning about the new approach and integrating it into their course design. This also
confirmed that the training was very productive and it motivated me to expand these
collaborative learning skills. The semi-structured interviews to students and self-
reports based on scaling further showed the development of collaboration and
autonomy in the teaching-learning process.
96
In finalizing the project, I attempted to evaluate the efficiency of the project based on
the feedback of the online tutors. In this stage, participants reflected on their
experiences about the research process and its impact on change and development for
better working practice. The feedback form was signed by participants to verify mutual
understanding the data interpretation. I then prepared a handbook from my project and
distributed it to the participants to disseminate my work. The journey had proved to be
a memorable and productive first experience of conducting action research.
Feedback on the Success of the Four Cycles: Efficiency of My Project
After practicing four cycles of participatory action research, it was the time to finalize
the research project. As stated, I prepared feedback forms signed by the participants to
evaluate the success of the four cycles and efficiency of my project and confirm
mutual understandings of the process (See Appendix L, p.208). I disseminated my
project outcomes through presentations to both stakeholders and the public.
Furthermore, certificates of participation were awarded to the research participants by
the Distance Education Institute in recognition of the success of the project.
4.5 Self Appraisal on Action Research
Participatory action research is a collaborative effort. My research project provided a
good example of the change and development within working practice that can result,
and was one that could be shared with other higher education institutions for change
and development of their own online education practices. The research journey
provided professional learning and experience to both myself and the participants. This
was the ultimate reward of the project.
The success of action research cycles depend on collaborative efforts of the
participants. This was my first experience of participatory action research, and was
thus extremely challenging. However the efforts and enthusiasm of all concerned led
97
to collaboration for better working practice. This collaborative process provided in-
depth insights into action research and expanded knowledge on how to prepare and
design online courses based on the constructivist approach. The research also enabled
me to further develop project management, leadership, communication and research
skills. The research diary and writing up of the project showed that reflection is a
crucial skill in putting the life-long learning process into reality. Using an action
research approach also helped made me understand the role of the worker researcher
and grasp the essences of work based learning.
I carried out my project with a high level of responsibility. In this respect, I created a
research atmosphere based on collaborative efforts that provided pedagogical
development and professional learning experiences to the participants. The process is
illustrated below:
All efforts are coming together…
Allocating Resources Research Knowledge
Managing Own Learning
98
Critical Analysis Ethics
Self-Reflection
High Level of Responsibility
99
CHAPTER V
PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
5.1 Introduction
In this chapter, I critically analyze, interpret and discuss the findings of my work based
research project. The participatory action research cycle provided a map for the data
collection enabling me to record patterns of thoughts, experiences and perceptions
through an inductive process. In specific, creating a team work culture in working
practice for change and development in relation to online course design and the role of
the constructivist approach in designing online courses are critically discussed. Key
themes regarding project teams for better working practice, and constructivist
principles in designing online courses are also considered and interpreted in this
chapter.
In my research, content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the data within an
inductive process regarding the revealing the qualitative meanings of my findings. I
coded and broke down qualitative data into manageable categories based on themes,
thus using thematic analysis to enable me to analyse, highlight and underline the key
themes in a qualitative way (Marra et al., 2004; Altinay and Parakevas, 2008).
In collecting and analysing the data from the in-depth interviews, trainings, semi-
structured interviews, documentary analysis, focus group and self-reports, I set the
conceptual themes as follows:
� Dimensions of team work in working practice
� Online course design elements
� Principles of the constructivist approach in online course design
100
� Skills that are fostered or limited by the constructivist approach in online
learning
Regarding these basic themes, negotiation, collaboration and knowledge sharing are
the significant factors of the dimension of team work that were considered while
analyzing the team work culture of the institute.
Learning activities, projects, the guidance of tutors and communication were the key
factors in evaluating online course design. Further to this, collaborative learning,
group work, discussion and multiple perspectives in online courses embodied the
principles of the constructivist approach as basic themes within the process. These
themes also demonstrated how team work, communication, critical analysis skills can
be developed in online learning.
Hence, dimensions of team work, elements of course design, principles of the
constructivist approach and skills in online learning comprised the framework for
analyzing and interpreting qualitative data through an inductive process.
In this section, I have attempted to make sense of the data gathered during the
participatory action research and interpret and present them in a meaningful and useful
way in order to provide conclusions and indicate some of the implications of my
project.
5.2 Presentation of Research Findings
Creating a Team Work Culture in My Working Practice
In order to examine to what extent the Institute displayed a team-based approach to
collaborative decision making in online course design, I conducted in-depth interviews
with institute members as a base line measurement within cycle 1 of my project. The
in-depth interviews showed evidence of the current situation of the institute and had a
significant role in creating awareness of the importance of team work within the
101
Institute. In-depth interview findings revealed that the participants were aware of the
importance of team work and commitment to facilitate better working practice.
Although participants accepted that they had to work together satisfactorily in order to
achieve synergy, they also felt that the Institute’s attempts to improve quality had not
sufficiently addressed the need for regular meetings, collaborative tasks and
monitoring of institutional activity.
On the other hand, the in-depth interviews also showed that the Director and technical
staff of the Institute were committed to carrying out research projects for institutional
development, thus showing that the basis for quality improvement within the Institute
was in place.
One of the tutors stated that “The Institute is preparing strategic plan outlining quality
improvement activities where collaboration will be the basis of monitoring quality
improvement”. Another tutors stressed: “Even if there are no improvements and even
if there is a loss of enthusiasm, we still need to have meetings every semester”.
Significantly though, the participants agreed that the Institute had insufficient
activities to improve quality in terms of forming project teams to drive better working
practice. They stressed that projects such as mine could play an important role in
stimulating collaboration for quality development of the Institute.
The director and technical staff stated that there were sufficient communication links
between members. In fact, although tutors from the same department were in
communication with each other and collaborated to some extent, there was little
evidence of team spirit in true institutional terms. One of the participants stated: “we
have no connection, we have no contact with members”. One of the participants from
the English Preparatory School stressed: “as a team we are still coming together”.
The participants described team work in many ways:
102
“Coming together for the Institute as tutor, faculty staff and the students”
“Project teams for completing tasks”
“Establishing contacts to change and develop the situation”
“Cooperation of people”
“Coming together from different backgrounds and working on issues”.
“Sharing responsibilities, being part of the puzzle”.
Nearly all participants could define team work and project teams, however their
experience of team work culture within working practice was minimal. They were able
to see though that collaborative work not only increases the professionalism of the
researcher, but also the organisation’s members and the quality of task fulfilment and
decision-making processes.
The findings supported the idea that there was a need to consider change in course
design with the involvement of instructors. However, the findings also revealed that
although tutors nominally agreed on the importance of team work in online course
designs, they were also practising course design on an individual basis. The evidence
showed that there was no collaborative decision making process in online course
design in my own work context.
The participants did though stress that working as a team is a different culture which
provides opportunities to share experiences with other tutors, benchmark yourself, and
gain confidence about your efforts in your course design. In this respect, all the
participants stated that there was a need for training in order to gain insights on how to
work collaboratively in online course design.
In line with the in-depth interviews, my experiences and observation as reflected in
my research diary confirmed that the institute had not developed sufficient team-based
103
inspiration to develop and monitor quality improvement activities, and to share,
negotiate and transfer knowledge among staff. Table I illustrates the dimensions of
team work according to my observations as an insider researcher.
Table I. The Evaluation on Team Work Dimensions
Team Work Dimensions Comments
Customer and Interteam Issues Institute members could not be active on customer and
interteam issues because of not having regular meetings
and contacts. In addition, interteams could not be
constructed.
Roles and Interdependence Institute members have no clarified roles within a team.
Everyone within the institute is allowed to work
independently.
Communication and Conflict Management There are not enough communication links between
colleagues, which limits collegial activities. Tutors who
are in the same department have communication and
collaboration, whereas tutors who are in different
departments, have no contacts. Institute members solve
any conflict with the Director and the technical staff on
an individual basis.
Team Member Skills Since there is no team work culture within the Institute,
team member skills could not be clarified.
Clarity of Team Goals Although the Institute is trying to develop a strategic
plan in line with the mission and goals of the institution,
it does not foster clarity of team goals to work on this
plan.
Decisions Authority and Accountability The director is open and flexible for change and
development. The Director has enthusiasm to share
decisions with members.
Support from Organization Although the Director provides support to members on
an individual basis, there is insufficient support to
project teams.
After gathering the data on teamwork, the training in cycle 1 aimed to inform institute
members what team work is, and how members needed to work together with regards
to decision-making processes for online course design. The training thus aimed to
create awareness of team work culture and build project teams to develop the online
courses. The training was thematic and aimed to develop the knowledge and
experience of core members about dimensions of team work and functions of project
teams in a healthy working practice.
104
I had an important leadership role in terms of forming project teams and encouraging
them to work together for the promotion of better working performance. The feedback
provided significant evidence of the outcomes, participants stating that they were
highly satisfied to be involved in training which gave them insights on what team work
is and how they could work together on online course design.
As team work requires learning how to develop knowledge, share information, and
build on each other’s knowledge to create new knowledge and new models, rather than
simply adapting the models already existing, participants gained in-depth
understanding on why team work is important for institutional success. The feedback
forms elicited the reflections and evaluations of the participants regarding the training
on creating a team work culture. The participants agreed that the training helped them
understand the importance of each individual’s contribution to the collaborative
decision making process. One of the participants reported that: “it helped me to
identify my place in the team, it gave a clear idea about the decision making process”.
Another stated: “I have found an opportunity to learn more about team work and
decision making mechanisms in the online course design system”. A third participant
underlined that the: “training provided insights on the essence of team work in
pedagogical aspects of online education”. Another added that the training provided in-
depth understanding of how team work was essential for successful practice of online
education within the institute. A further comment was that: “training contributed
motivation and understanding of the action research process”.
Participants made a number of different statements about the contribution of training
to team work skills:
“Coming together, working together and thinking in a harmony”
“Producing a product through working together”
105
“Sharing, exchanging knowledge”
“Coordinating and taking a high level of responsibility”
“Negotiating and collaborating based on active involvement”
“Making shared decisions”
The training thus made a major contribution to members to working together,
negotiating, and sharing knowledge and thereby developing professionally within the
project teams. My observations in my research diary further confirmed the impact of
the training on team work culture within the institute and the growing realisation that
the Institute could be developed by the collaborative efforts of the staff.
Principles of the Constructivist Approach in Online Courses
Evaluating the awareness of tutors regarding the constructivist approach was the main
objective of cycle 2 in my participatory action research. In this respect, I conducted
semi-structured interviews with online tutors as a base line measurement.
My findings from the semi-structured interviews revealed that the online tutors had no
clear idea or experience of the constructivist approach and its implementation into
online courses. Indeed, the limited data from the interviews in itself showed the need
to conduct training to help them how to prepare and design online course based on
constructivist approach.
Chow and Yong (2005) point out that online courses facilitate learning by promoting
taking responsibility for one’s own learning within a framework involving
collaboration and social interaction. This develops critical analysis, communication
and team work skills. The online tutors agreed that there is difference between online
teaching and traditional teaching, and that tutors and students need to take a higher
level of responsibility in the former. At the same time, nearly all the online tutors
stressed that they didn’t have ‘names’ for the teaching strategies or philosophies they
106
drew on while teaching and designing online courses. One of the participants
remarked: “I don’t know if it is strategy but I try to keep contact with students”.
Another participant stated: “my strategy is to give them guidance rather teach them”.
The online tutors had some difficulty in expressing what ‘learner focused’ really meant
in online education. One of the participants stated: “It is hard to me to define, I never
thought of the idea of being learner focused”. The tutors did however agree that the
issue was at least not complicated by any major cultural differences between the
largely Turkish student population.
Drawing on discussions by Hughes and Daykin (2002), Ausburn (2004), and Combe
(2005) on online course design elements, the tutors mentioned that readings,
assignments, and projects within their online courses motivated students to learn
better. Tutors attempted to use email, face to face meetings and discussion boards as
communication tools in the courses, but there was a general feeling that the
communication tools of the program were not functioning well.
One of the participants stressed: “I don’t have a chat programme, the institute is not
opening the chat programme every week. I could use other facilities”. In addition,
online tutors agreed that students made little voluntary use of the online
communication tools and that they needed face to face meeting with their tutors.
On the other hand, the tutors did feel that the students took a high level of
responsibility within the online learning process. One of the participants summarized:
“I did experience this and the results of the exams is better than the classroom exams,
so I was surprised - they did perfectly”. Comments by tutors on the collaborative
element were many and varied:
“There is no collaboration in the course, it is completely individual based”
“Collaboration is not sufficient, the motivation for collaboration is low, when
you ask students to come together it is problem”
107
“Not much, I did not have much collaboration”
“Peers work together for the projects”
The online tutors underlined that they needed further effort and training to design their
online courses in order to encourage students to think, reflect and understand the
subjects, and negotiate with others to transfer their learning into real world
experiences. One of the participants stressed: “These are the things that I am trying to
do”. Another participant stated that tutors need to be supportive for the students to help
them construct learning and experience during the online learning process.
Regarding student engagement with diverse topics or subjects of research during the
online courses, the tutors underlined that students study different topics and do projects
in order to interrelate real world subjects with course content. However, although the
tutors attempted to introduce diverse topics and research within their courses in
relation to notions of the constructivist approach in online courses, they were not
highly satisfied with the practice.
Turning to assessment practice, it was clear that tutors considered product rather than
process in evaluating student performance. Tutors discussed assessment of student
performance in the following terms:
“Exams are very important, we had several quizzes”
“I always apply the same grading system, this is how we do it”
“Assessment is part of administration decisions”
“It is very important and difficult to assess the process”
According to the semi-structured interview findings, I can underline that the online
tutors were willing to guide students to learn better in their online courses. However,
they simply had insufficient knowledge and experience on preparing and designing
online courses based on online pedagogy.
108
I conducted documentary analysis in order to triangulate the findings on the awareness
of tutors about the constructivist approach within the frame of cycle 2 in my
participatory action research process. Through this analysis, I was able to increase the
richness of the data and construct a “full picture” of the focus. In total I analyzed four
online course designs according to the principles of the constructivist approach (Duffy
and Jonassen, 1992; Huang, 2002; Ausburn, 2004). These courses were TOUR 506
(Financial Management in Tourism and Hospitality Management), TOUR 509
(Contemporary Issues in International Tourism and Hospitality Management), ECON
431 (Gender and Development), and ARCH 329 (History and Culture of Cyprus).
Although these course designs proposed course aims, objective and learning outcomes
for informing students about the process, students’ prior knowledge, cultural
differences, and individual differences were not taken into account. In addition, these
courses targeted only a relatively small group of students in terms of delivering a
curriculum based on a learner focused education philosophy.
The courses did not seem to encourage active engagement of the students in their
learning process. Significantly, the ARCH 329 course design suggested student use of
communication tools with regard to tutor motivation and guidance. The other courses
did not promote interactive communication and social interaction in the online process.
In the online learning and teaching process, tutors saw themselves as facilitators. In
fact, they could not differentiate between online tutoring and traditional teaching.
In this respect, students were not active and collaborative within the courses. However
they were able to take responsibility for their own learning. On the other hand, it was
only the assignments and final projects that seemed to help students reflect on their
learning. The skills development of the students within the courses was also not
considered, and problem solving and experiential learning could not be seen within the
109
structure and the practice of the courses. Although the assignments and the projects
showed evidence of the process of learning, the grading system confirmed that the
assessment was driven by product not process.
The documentary analysis thus confirmed the findings of the interviews that the tutors
prepared and designed their online courses without considering the principles of
constructivist approach. My own observations also backed up the necessity for further
training about the constructivist approach and its principles for online courses.
Table II summarises the picture that emerged:
Table II. Analysis of Constructivist Principles
Core Principles Comments
1. Learning should take place in
authentic and real-world
environments.
Although tutors attempted to use diverse topics and
resources, learning process is not consonant with
authentic learning and real world experiences.
2. Learning should involve social
negotiation and mediation.
Tutors try to use communication tools to provide
social negotiation and mediation for student
learning. However, technical problems limit use of
communication tools.
3. Content and skills should be made
relevant to the learner.
Tutors considered diverse content for the courses
and included these in their course plans, emphasising
objectives, aims and learning outcomes of the
courses. However, skills development was not taken
into account.
4. Content and skills should be
understood within the framework of
the learner’s prior knowledge.
The learner’s prior knowledge, interrelation between
content and the skills were not considered.
5. Students should be assessed
formatively, serving to inform future
learning experiences.
The performance of the students was assessed on
product not process.
6. Students should be encouraged to
become self-regulatory, self-
mediated, and self-aware.
Students can take responsibility for their own
learning regarding to nature of online courses.
7. Tutors serve primarily as guides and
facilitators of learning, not
instructors.
Although tutors see themselves as facilitators, they
can not sufficiently differentiate the roles of online
tutor and the instructor. In this respect, they
attempted to transfer traditional teaching roles into
the online teaching process.
8. Tutors should provide for and
encourage multiple perspectives and
representations of content.
Tutors have tried to propose diverse topics and
contents for their courses. However they were not
really aware why they were doing so.
110
Implementing the Constructivist Approach into Online Course Designs
Research in the literature underlines that a constructivist framework for online course
design is critical to the success of online practices (Dillon, 2000; Gold, 2001; Ausburn,
2004; Gulati, 2004).
In this respect, providing training to extend knowledge of the constructivist approach
and implementing its principles into online course design were the significant
objectives of cycle 3 in my action research process. Therefore, I delivered training to
online tutors and formed project teams to prepare and design online courses based on
collaborative efforts and negotiation.
The trainings covered what the constructivist approach is, what the differences are
between traditional and constructivist classrooms, how the constructivist approach is
beneficial for students, how tutors implement the principles of the constructivist
approach, how constructivist approach learning intervention operates, the practice of
the constructivist approach and online education through concrete examples.
The feedback forms of the tutors provided me material for reflection and evaluation of
the contributions of the training to creating awareness of how to prepare and design
online courses based on the constructivist approach. The participants reflected that the
training helped them internalize the new approach and gain confidence about
implementing the approach in their courses.
Constructivist pedagogy is a significant element in the design of collaborative online
courses and practice, and tutors reported that this training enabled them to transfer the
knowledge about constructivist pedagogy into practice. One of the participants stated:
“I feel better, more knowledgeable, motivated toward preparing my course based on
this approach”. Another underlined that the training provided new ideas on online
pedagogy and at the same time promoted a healthy exchange of ideas. An additional
111
comment was that the “training enlightened me in terms of the process, intervention
and the use of technology together”. There were a number of other remarks of a
similar nature:
“It made me have a clear picture of the steps while designing online courses”
“I am more self-aware in providing students an authentic and real world
environment for their learning”.
“I have confidence to adapt the principles of constructivist approach to my
course design”.
“I include elements of constructivist approach in my course which might have
been overlooked without the help of the training”.
“The training provided good grounds to understand how to design online
courses”.
As a result of the trainings, the tutors had developed their awareness of how to prepare
and design online courses based on the constructivist approach and practiced team
work in designing their courses in collaboration with their colleagues.
My research diary provided significant further evidence that the participants were
excited to know about the new approach and increasingly confident about integrating
this approach into their course design. This confirmed that the training had been very
productive in creating awareness on the constructivist approach and building
confidence about its implementation.
After the training, there was an adaptation process for the tutors in order to implement
constructivist approach into online course design based on collaboration and
negotiation with their colleagues. During the adaptation process, I conducted focus
group activities as they would provide me with the opportunity to be a proactive
insider researcher should there be any problems in implementing the new approach.
In the focus group activity, seven tutors voluntarily discussed what they learned and
how they implemented the new approach. In addition, they found the opportunity to
112
share and negotiate with their colleagues and find solutions together for existing
problems as well as learn what others gained from the process.
Regarding the focus group findings, the tutors agreed that the training helped them
internalize the process. However technical problems had hindered the implementation
of the new approach. Research emphasises that constructivist pedagogy in
collaborative online learning fosters the learning and skills of online students (Huang,
2002; McLoughlin and Luca, 2002; McLuckie and Topping, 2004). In relation to the
initial impact of course design based on the constructivist approach for learning and
skills development, tutors made a number of comments:
“Constructivist approach based activities help students learn better and develop
skills because it is a well planned learning process”.
“It is a system encouraging students to learn in a more structured yet independent
manner”.
“Students become more active, because they become key characters”.
“Authentic learning and real world experience are established”.
“The course relies on a diversity of topics”.
“Students become more responsible and active”.
“Students gain reasoning and self-reflection skills”.
Furthermore, tutors underlined that the action learning process had enormous effects
on their professional growth. One of the participants stressed: “it supports my
enthusiasm to make better practice”. Another stated that action learning provided gain
new experiences and open new horizons. One of them remarked that: “this opened my
eyes as to how students become part of the learning process and this provided a new
window to me in my professional endeavours”. Finally, a participant underlined that
action learning helped have more efficient online classes due to the contributions of
others. In this respect, tutors agreed that collective efforts were the platform for
113
building success in implementing the constructivist approach into online course design
for better learning and skills development of students.
My research diary again provides confirming evidence of the tutors’ enthusiasm
towards the constructivist approach. They had a firm belief that the new approach
helped students learn better and develop a higher level of responsibility, reasoning,
reflection and critical thinking skills. Without doubt, the action learning process based
on collaboration and negotiation among colleagues increased collegial activity for
learning together and sharing and transferring knowledge for better working practice.
Outcome of Implementing the Constructivist Approach into Online Course Design
Constructivist pedagogy is the critical element in collaborative online course designs
to enhance the quality of learning and teaching online. Within this pedagogy, there are
a set of eight design principles that can help figure out the success of implementing the
constructivist approach (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992; Huang, 2002; Ausburn, 2004).
In this respect, in cycle 4, semi-structured interviews with tutors, semi-structured
interviews with students and students’ self-reports based on scaling provided in-depth
data on evaluating the implementation of constructivist approach into course designs in
relation to the eight core principles.
The findings revealed that tutors successfully implemented the constructivist approach
into their online course designs and that students gained research, communication,
presentation, reasoning, team work and reflection skills. In this respect, my
participatory action research project resulted in improved practice in the development
of online course design.
Semi-structured interviews with tutors served to evaluate the implementation of the
constructivist approach into online course design. The constructivist pedagogy
provided an authentic, collaborative learning atmosphere to develop a high level of
114
responsibility, reasoning, reflection, critical thinking skills, communication and team
work skills of the online students.
Seven online tutors voluntarily participated in the semi-structured interviews: The
“Writing on Global Issues” course tutor from the General Education Department, the
“Gender and Development” course tutor from Economics Department, the “History of
Cyprus” course tutor from the Architecture Department, the “Tourism Policy and
Planning”, “Marketing”, “Human Resources Management” and “Finance” course
tutors from the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management.
In relation to encouraging authentic learning and integrating content with real life
experiences the tutor who teaches “Writing on Global Issues” stated that this course
proposed authentic learning and real world experiences for students through various
research projects. The tutor who teaches “History of Cyprus” mentioned that online
learning based on constructivist approach encourages students to immediately search
the internet and interrelate course content with their life. The tutor who teaches
“Gender and Development” underlined that courses based on the constructivist
approach very much encouraged authentic learning and real world experiences for
better learning. Tutors who teach in School of Tourism and Hospitality Management
agreed that the courses based on constructivist approach provided authentic learning
and supported the integration of learning with real world experiences through course
assignments, projects and communication among students.
Furthermore, the tutors agreed that their courses provided opportunities for their
students to engage in social negotiation and mediation through group discussion, group
work and collaboration. Again though, the tutors underlined in this respect that
technical problems in the system hindered efficient social interaction.
115
The tutors emphasised that constructivist based courses with a structured and planned
nature encouraged students to be self-regulatory and self-aware of their learning, thus
increasing levels of responsibility in their learning process. One of the tutors stressed:
“definitely, students are independent, therefore, self-management was a key element”.
In addition, one of the tutors stated: “students were now more aware of their learning
process by keeping a learning diary and portfolio of key learning events in the course
design”. In this respect, implementing constructivist approach into online course
designs helped students find and follow a learning map and truly take responsibility for
their own learning process.
Tutors agreed that they became facilitators - or ‘constructivist teachers’ in the online
learning and teaching process. One of the tutors defined the tutor role as ‘sage’ to
guide learners towards a better learning process. Another tutor stressed: “I used less
time and gave more time to students. I was a regulator rather than delivering lectures”.
In relation to the constructivist based course design, which was needed to encourage
students to have multiple perspectives, the tutors agreed that assignments, research
project, studying diverse topics within the course, discussions and negotiation of those
topics with others through communication tools helped students have multiple
perspectives.
One of the tutors stated: “sure, as course materials were numerous, they could learn
from diverse topics”. One of the tutors stressed: “studying diverse topics in course,
discussions with peers through email, chat are critical elements to have multiple
perspectives”. In addition, tutors agreed that discussions with peers within group
works, and negotiation on diverse topics with others helped students develop their
communication and reflection and reasoning skills. Tutors also mentioned that
116
research projects and group assignments helped students develop communication,
research and team work skills.
One of the tutors explained how students had to write critical evaluations on each
course activity and how this enhanced the development of critical thinking and
reflection skills. Significantly, tutors now mentioned that they had attempted to assess
students’ performance as a process using such activities such as portfolios, learning
diaries, assignments and research projects.
Although tutors believe that constructivist based courses enable students to develop
research, team work, communication, reflection and reasoning skills, they also argued
that the pedagogy had limits regarding ethical understanding, and the skills of analysis
and synthesis.
I conducted semi-structured interviews with fourteen volunteer online students from
different seven online courses in order to investigate the changes on teaching
philosophy of tutors and examine skills development of the online students. The semi-
structured interview findings showed that students were satisfied with the learning
activities and developed self-management, reflection, communication, team work,
reasoning and research skills.
The students agreed that course design elements such as pictures, schedule of learning
activities, communication tools, announcements, and the guidance of tutors motivated
them learn to better. Significantly, they agreed that online courses require a high level
of responsibility for their own learning process.
The students were highly satisfied with the online learning experience and reflected
this through their perceptions on defining online learning and comparing online and
traditional learning processes:
“Online learning developed our self-responsibility”
117
“Online learning is new for me”
“Online learning helps me learn easily”
“Online learning provides better research skills”
“Online learning is perfect”
“Online learning is beneficial for us to learn how to make decisions”
“Traditional learning is done faster but online learning is a process”
“Traditional learning is about memorizing”
“Traditional learning gives stress and blocks my learning”
The students agreed that the course design motivated them. Different learning
activities such as research, group work, pictures and the guidance of the tutor all
encouraged better learning.
Further to this, online students found a link between course content and real life
experiences during the course through group work, discussion, negotiation and
research. Students described their responsibilities in the online learning process as
following announcements, quizzes, assignments, conducting research, completing
projects based on group work, self-management and time planning.
The students defined tutor responsibility as guiding their learning, motivating, and
allowing group work and discussion. Moreover, online students reflected that online
courses provided diverse topics for assignments and research projects which helped
them develop multiple perspectives, enhance research, reasoning and reflection skills.
Furthermore, they emphasized that their online courses helped them develop
communication and technical skills through communication tools such as chat and
email. They also mentioned that stated that the courses fostered management and
planning, reasoning, reflection, and teamwork skills through research projects, and
118
group assignments based on group work. They noted that exams, projects, quizzes, and
assignments were used as assessment tools in the online learning process.
In line with the semi-structured interviews, self-reports based on scaling were
employed in order to investigate the skills development of online students. In this
scaling activity, online students reflected on the role of course design in developing
skills categorized as management of self (personal effectiveness), management of
others (team work), management of information (communication skill), and
management of task (research management).
In this respect, online students reported that the course helped them develop skills of
taking responsibility for their own learning, developing and adopting new learning
strategies, showing intellectual flexibility, using learning in new or different situations,
reflecting on their own learning, clarifying criticism constructively, managing time,
and coping with stress regarding to management of self (personal effectiveness).
Furthermore, the students reported that their online courses supported carrying out
agreed tasks, working productively in a cooperative context, negotiating, learning in a
collaborative context and supporting others in learning regarding to management of
others (team work).
The students also underlined that the courses helped them develop skills in using
appropriate sources of information, appropriate technology, using information
critically, handling large amounts of information, and presenting information
competently (communication skills).
In addition, the students stressed that they gained the ability to conceptualize ideas, set
and maintain priorities, and plan and implement courses of action regarding the
management of tasks (research management).
119
In addition to the semi-structured interviews with tutors and students, my research
diary also confirmed that tutors’ collective efforts had led to the development of online
courses through the integration of the constructivist approach. This had resulted in
developing communication skills, a high level of responsibility, research, critical
thinking, team work, presentation and reflection skills on the part of the students.
Table III summarises the principles of the constructivist approach and the outcome of
the process:
Table III. Principles of Constructivist Approach: Learning Activities and Skills
Principles of Constructivist Approach Learning Activities and Developed Skills
Learning should take place in authentic and
real-world environments
Diverse course and research topics, group work and
discussions helped students develop communication,
research, reflection and team work skills.
Learning should involve social negotiation
and mediation
Negotiation and discussions through communication
tools such as chat, emails helped students involve in
social negotiation. Although courses provided such
an opportunity, technical problems hindered the
development of communication skills.
Content and skills should be made relevant to
the learner
Group work, discussion, assignment and projects,
learning activities such as developing portfolios
helped students develop reasoning, reflection,
communication and team work skills. Content and skills should be understood
within the framework of the learner’s prior
knowledge
Students should be assessed formatively,
serving to inform future learning experiences
Students’ performance was assessed in relation to
learning process not product. Tutors attempted to
assess students based on research projects, group
works, assignments, active participation and exams.
Students should be encouraged to become
self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware
Course plans and a schedule of learning activities
guided students to become self-regulatory. In this
respect, students learned self-management and
showed a high level of responsibility in their
learning.
Tutors serve primarily as guides and
facilitators of learning
Tutors are the facilitators to guide students to learn
better.
Tutors should provide for and encourage
multiple perspectives and representations of
content
Studying diverse topics, conducting research projects
and assignments, negotiation with others supported
students develop multiple perspectives and reflection
skills.
Evaluation of the Efficiency of My Research Project
It is important to consider how this project impacted on professional knowledge and
organisational performance in terms of its sustainability and efficiency for better
working practice, as well as in terms of the professional growth of the participants.
120
I therefore prepared a feedback form for evaluation of the efficiency of my research
and distributed it to the core research participants. The findings revealed that the
research participants were satisfied with the research process which they saw as a
valuable opportunity to internalize how to prepare and design online courses based on
constructivist approach through team work for better working practice. In relation to
feedback form questions about the evaluation of the efficiency of the research project,
participants agreed that they were satisfied to have been involved in my work based
research project.
In the following section, I reflect on the reports of the participants on the beneficial
outcomes of the research for institutional development, and the contributions of the
action research process to professional knowledge and experience, as well as the
benefits of the constructivist approach for students and the tutors.
Beneficial Outcomes of the Research
In terms of institutional development, the participants reported that they were satisfied
to have been part of the collaborative research for change and development within
working practice. One of the participants stated: “a team work culture was established
and meetings and negotiation provided knowledge sharing for institutional
development”.
The participants reported that their collaborative efforts promoted team work,
committed decision making through the project teams, the establishment of negotiation
and sharing, and the transfer of professional knowledge among core members for
better working practice. The participants reported that they internalized how to prepare
and design online courses based on the constructivist approach and hence enhanced the
program and online course development.
121
Benefits of Constructivist Approach
The constructivist approach provides particular benefits to online students. The
research participants reported in particular that the approach helped prepare and design
online courses for deep learning and enhanced the transferable skills of the students.
The tutors stated that the approach helped them deliver better courses thus motivating
students to learn better and develop target skills.
The tutors also reported that the students gained in-depth understanding and
knowledge from the course and developed communication, research, responsibility,
critical thinking and team work skills. One of the participants stated that “the
constructivist approach helped shift students from memorization to grasping, and
consolidating information for deep learning”.
Further to this, one of the participants stated that: “group discussion, research projects,
and group work provided students with multiple perspectives and in-depth knowledge
which they can use to transfer knowledge and experience to real life and future
learning. This showed the significant benefits of this approach”.
Participants also reported that the constructivist approach helped motivate both
students and tutors and reflected that the approach developed ways of looking at the
teaching-learning process from different angles.
Contributions of the Action Research Process to Professional Knowledge and
Experience
Action research is an innovative, interagency, reflective practice of working together
for change, and it is worth reflecting on how the process contributed to the
professional knowledge and experience of the research participants. The participants
reported that the action research process had a positive impact on professional
development, providing collaborative learning and negotiation for change within the
122
Institute and contributing to the internalization of theoretical and practical knowledge
for better course design.
5.3 Conclusion
In summary, my participatory action research promoted “team work culture for better
working practice” and “principles of constructivist approach in online course design to
foster learning and skills of online students” The research project highlighted the
literature gap on implementing the constructivist approach into online course designs
through team work and hence may serve as a model of practice for other higher
education institutions, in particular with respect to developing team work cultures to
underpin sustainable institutional change. The project also provided considerable
personal and professional enrichment to both myself, as the insider researcher, and the
core participants in the research process.
123
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Introduction
This chapter in my project outlines the conclusions and recommendations deriving
from my work based project. It explores my model for the change and development in
online practices through participatory action research, and seeks to underline some
analytical generalizations that emerge from the research outcomes. The chapter
concludes by exploring major implications, implications for practice and avenues for
further research.
6.2 Discussion on Research Outcomes
My work based research project aimed to investigate the implementation of the
constructivist approach into online course design in the Distance Education Institute at
EMU. In the project, I employed participatory action research to propose change and
development to institutional practice. My project incorporated creating an awareness
of collaboration, team work in decision making processes for online course design and
implementing the constructivist approach into online course design to develop the
learning and transferable skills of online students. In terms of these broader aims, my
research project included particular research objectives such as: creating an awareness
in Distance Education Institute members about team work for decision making,
creating awareness about the constructivist approach in online education, integrating
the constructivist approach into online course design, and contributing to
organizational change in terms of the course design within online education practices.
I put all my efforts and expertise into the participatory action research approach
124
through a series of deliberate actions intended to achieve the best possible practice for
change and development in my work context.
With respect to globalisation and technological developments in the academic world,
and the accompanying rapid diffusion of knowledge, online education practice can
provide a significant competitive advantage (McPherson and Nunes, 2006). Therefore,
many higher education institutions have incorporated online education in their plans
for quality improvement in a competitive world.
Regarding EUA standards and higher education policies for quality through change
and development on online practices, distance education institutes have become highly
strategic units which need to consider both pedagogical and organisational change and
development through collaborative projects.
While implementing change and development in any specific program or course,
considering team work and collaboration is essential (Duffuaa et al., 2003). This
requires committed decision-making and collaboration for innovation and change
through project teams acting for better practice in the work setting (Houston, 2008).
Research suggests that involvement of teachers and practitioners in an action learning
process for program development results in better working practice (Passfield, 2002;
Ho, 2006). My work based research project confirmed this research.
In my research process, in-depth interviews showed a lack of awareness among the
members regarding collaborative decision making on course design and program
development. In this respect, the training I conducted increased awareness of the
necessity for project teams and the need for team work culture to improve working
practice.
Course design is a critical success factor in online practice with regard to promoting
learning and skills development of students (Laurillard, 2002; Mason, 2002; Oliver,
125
2002; Salmon, 2002). There is general agreement that online course design needs to
promote a participative, authentic, student-centred learning atmosphere to promote
better learning and skills development (Ehrmann, 2002; Hall, 2002; Laurillard, 2002;
Mason, 2002; Oliver, 2002; Salmon, 2002). In this respect, the constructivist approach
offers a collaborative framework of exceptional potential for supporting learners
(Merrill, 1992; Dillon, 2000; Gold, 2001; Savery and Duffy, 2001; Ausburn, 2004).
Indeed, constructivist pedagogy is the critical element in collaborative online course
design in terms of its success in improving the quality of learning and teaching online
(Salmon, 2002; Osborn and Theodore, 2005).
Within this pedagogical framework, there is a set of eight design principles, which are:
learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments; learning should
involve social negotiation and mediation; content and skills should be made relevant to
the learner; content and skills should be understood within the framework of the
learner’s prior knowledge; students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform
future learning experiences; students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory,
self-mediated, and self-aware; tutors serve primarily as guides and facilitators of
learning, not instructors; tutors should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives
and representations of content.
Social constructivism, which views all knowledge as socially constructed through
interactions with other individuals and the environment and maintains an emphasis on
language use, provides profound insights on how to prepare and design online courses
for deep learning and the skills development of the students. In a collaborative,
constructivist learning environment, such as in my own work based project, students
have the chance to develop higher order thinking, reflection, communication, research,
team work skills through managing their own learning within a learning community.
126
This helps them to be critical learners in the lifelong learning process (Curtis and
Lawson, 2001; Huang, 2002; McLoughlin and Luca, 2002; Harris and Bretag, 2003;
McLuckie and Topping, 2004). Meanwhile, Edwards (2001), Hughes, Daykin (2002),
Morrison (2003), Wilhelm (2003), Fisher and Baird (2005), and Neo (2005) provide
insights into the impact of designing constructivist online learning courses to enhance
the learning and skills development of students. In my own project, I specifically
explored how the constructivist approach in online course design promotes learning
and develops communication, research, reflection, critical thinking and presentation
skills through the collaborative efforts of tutors. The success of my practical work
derived from a series of actions within a participatory action research cycle.. The base-
line measurement through semi-structured interviews with the tutors, and documentary
analysis of course design showed that the tutors had limited preliminary knowledge
and experience of the constructivist approach and led to training of tutors in order to
extend their knowledge of how to prepare and design online courses based on
constructivist principles.
The tutors implemented the approach through negotiation and discussion with their
project teams. Semi-structured interviews with tutors, and semi-structured interviews
and self-reports of the students revealed that implementing constructivist approach into
online course designs does indeed enhance learning and develop the skills of students
as well as promote better working practice. My research project revealed the following
conclusions:
� Team work culture: Team work and collaboration was practiced within the
research process as the critical success factor for innovation and change.
Project teams were developed to propose change on course design and
implement the constructivist approach to promote the learning and skills
127
development of the students. In this respect, the tutors gained pedagogical
insights into course design and developed their professional learning through
collaboration. In addition, a team work culture was established that enabled the
Institute to act together for the quality mission.
� The role of course design: Course design based on the constructivist approach
in my practical work demonstrated that collaborative work, research activities,
communication and negotiation, and the integration of learning with real life
experiences within courses are the necessary elements for deep, active learning
and skills development.
� Learning and skills: Course design based on the constructivist approach
facilitated in-depth knowledge and experience of course subject matter. It also
enhanced deep and active learning and resulting in developing self-
responsibility, higher order thinking, critical analytical thinking, research,
communication, reflection, collaboration and presentation skills on the part of
students.
My work based research project was grounded on participatory action research. It
comprised an action research cycle in which tutors as professionals acted
collaboratively to propose change and development for better working practice. In this
respect, I designed a series of actions to reach the research outcomes and bring about
change and development in online course design.
6.3 Some Analytical Generalizations
Regarding the participatory action research and the conclusions of my research project,
some analytical generalizations can be listed as following:
• Participatory action research can lead to change and development in practice
through collaborative efforts of professionals.
128
• Distance education institutes are strategic units in higher education institutions
that should be used to drive quality improvements in the competitive market.
• Innovation and change for quality in education can be realised through
deliberate action plans in which professionals work together to drive
improvement.
• Institutes should develop a team work culture, develop policies and procedures
within the institute based on collaboration, and provide or facilitate
involvement in training on pedagogical and technical developments.
• In planning ongoing quality assurance, tutors need to create standards,
encourage students feedback, assess performance through questionnaire,
interviews, etc., act as a mentor or peer, and keep a journal of teaching
experience.
• Online delivery is affected by student characteristics, technology, tutors and the
course design.
• Course design needs to be curriculum sensitive and it needs to be learner
focused, accessible, relevant, collaborative and interactive. It needs to be based
on small group size since it relies on cohesion and the need to address learning
styles and cultures.
• The constructivist approach in online course design is the most appropriate
approach to promote learning and skills development in students.
• The principles of the constructivist approach need to be realized through course
objectives, course activities and learning outcomes. Tutors need to be aware
that learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments, and
should involve social negotiation and mediation. Content and skills should be
made relevant to the learner, and should be understood within the framework of
129
the learner’s prior knowledge. Students should be assessed formatively, serving
to inform future learning experiences. Students should be encouraged to
become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware. Tutors serve primarily
as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors. Tutors should provide for
and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of content.
• In the constructivist learning environment, group activity and collaboration
increases social interaction and thus enhances learning.
• Course content, learning activities and interaction in online courses increase the
self-reflective skills of students.
• The constructivist learning experience increases problem based learning when
tutors provide the chance for learners to develop multiple perspectives.
• The constructivist learning environment helps students to develop self-
responsibility and research, reflection and critical thinking skills.
• Group learning activities provide have a positive impact on learning and team
work skills.
• Collaborative learning facilitates peer engagement, which increases
communication and reflection skills.
• The online context can lead to an increase in learner responsibility.
• Students develop positive attitudes in constructivist learning environments,
different to those they develop from their traditional classroom experiences.
• Course design elements including personalization, variety, self-direction, and
development of a learning community positively effect students learning.
• Communication tools such as chat, discussion boards, email increase
collaboration.
130
• Communication, problem solving, team building and reflective thinking are
amongst the skills developed in the constructivist online learning context.
6.4 Major Implications
My research investigated the role of online course design based on the constructivist
approach in enhancing the learning and skills of the online students. It concluded that
employing a constructivist approach in online course design is one of the critical
success factors in developing quality in online practices.
My work based research project proposed innovation and change through the
collaborative efforts of professionals in participatory action research. It resulted in
better team work within the institute regarding commitment and decision-making by
members and proved to be a model that could be shared with other higher education
institutions to change and develop their own performance in online course design for
quality improvement. In addition, my research filled the gap on the literature regarding
implementing the constructivist approach into online courses in order to develop the
learning and skills of online students. It further opens an academic debate about the
value of work based projects through participatory action research in bringing about
change and development for quality improvements within higher education
institutions.
Implications for Practice
• My work based research project revealed that participatory action research
contributes change and development within working practice.
• My work based research project provided participants with a deeper
understanding of the pedagogical and organizational aspects of online
education.
131
• The collaborative research process provided participants with an awareness
of the importance of team work culture in working practice.
• The participants gained in-depth insights into the principles of the
constructivist approach in online course design.
• Institute members extended their knowledge and experience on how to
prepare and design online courses based on the constructivist approach.
• Research participants’ involvement in action learning within a participatory
action research process enhanced professional growth.
• The collaborative efforts of the research participants and myself promoted
personal and professional development in our academic careers.
Implications for Further Research
• For further studies, comparative case studies could be used to examine
the performances of different institutes in different higher education
institutions in implementing the constructivist approach in online courses.
• In addition, each principle of the constructivist approach within online
course design could be a distinct research focus and the subject of in-
depth investigation.
• Further research could incorporate a mixed approach to integrate
qualitative and quantitative research design to increase the validity and
reliability of the research.
132
CHAPTER VII
CRITICAL REFLECTION ON RESEARCH JOURNEY
7.1 Introduction
This document includes a critical commentary on my project and its impact on
professional knowledge and practice. My research project aimed at change and
development in online education practice within the Distance Education Institute at
EMU based on European University Association norms. It contributed to the
professional development of online tutors in designing online courses based on the
constructivist approach in order to develop the generic skills of online students.
My research project and action research cycle provided in-depth knowledge and
experience to me and the participants regarding change and development in working
practice. As a result of my participatory action research, the collaborative efforts of
volunteer participants and myself contributed change and development in creating a
team work culture within the organization and developing the generic skills of students.
Evidence of the impact and success of my project include my participation in
international conferences, my published paper in the Turkish Online Journal of
Educational Technology, a submitted abstract to an international conference about
online communication and social networking, official letters from the Distance
Education Institute and the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management noting the
impact of project, becoming a member of new research projects, the production of a
handbook on how to design online courses based on team work culture that was
submitted to the Higher Education Councils in Turkey and North Cyprus, presenting
my research project to the public, media and professionals in the Management Centre,
and submitting a paper on work-based learning experiences to the Eurasian Journal of
Educational Research.
133
7.2 Reflections on Research Focus and Method
EMU has started to work on quality improvements with online education as a major
strategic tool. The EUA report revealed the necessity for change and development in
online practice, one implication being that online practice could be considered a
strategic tool for expanding the capacity of the services.
In addition to this, the literature gap suggested the practical necessity of studying the
implementation of the constructivist approach into online courses for developing the
generic skills of online students. As I had in-depth knowledge and experience in the
field of online education and the work context was favourable, I was in a good position
to carry out a work based project in this field.
Thus the EUA report, my role as dedicated worker researcher and the literature gap on
online education practice justified all justified the choice and design of such a project
within the Doctorate of Professional Studies Programme.
Regarding the focus of the project, the following objectives were outlined, to be
achieved through participatory action research. The objectives also show the
significance of the project and its expected impacts and outcomes.
• To create the awareness in Distance Education Institute members on team
work for decision making regarding course design
• To create awareness of the constructivist approach in online education
through training
• To integrate the constructivist approach into online course design for
developing the critical thinking skills of online students
• To contribute to organizational change in terms of instructional design
within distance education practice
134
Regarding the nature of the project’s objectives, a qualitative research design was
chosen in which socially constructed meanings, experiences and perceptions of the
research participants would lead to practical realizations of the objectives through an
inductive process.
Participatory action research was employed in my research to find contextual solutions
for better working practice through the collaborative efforts of professionals. Using this
approach developed my professional knowledge and experience and the online tutors,
who were the core members of the research team.
The action research cycle was implemented in a strategic and logical fashion. The
training and other strategic actions showed that participatory action research suited my
research exactly, providing great insights for online tutors to improve the design of
online courses. The core members participated voluntarily in the action research cycle
and I sensitively considered the issue of ethics, preparing a research package, allocating
the right time and place for interviews, focus groups and training and getting
permission and mutual agreement through consent forms. Establishing warm contacts
and trust with stakeholders were critical success factors in this work based research
project.
In addition to this, I paid great attention to maintaining communication with
participants, making them voluntarily part of the project, and informing them about the
research process. In this respect, the research package was considered part of the
ethical implementation and covered in-depth information about the aim, significance of
the project, my role as worker researcher, a research report and the action research
process in order to stress the sensitivity of the worker researcher to the project.
Incentives also motivated the participants. USBs, pencils and folder bags were
distributed in focus group and training sessions. The project had the financial support
135
of the Ministry of Education and this required me to allocate resources efficiently and
properly. Expenditure also included the preparation of handbooks, and the organizing
of training.
My project was constituted as an action plan for the Distance Education Institute to
produce a sustainable system for preparing and designing online courses through the
constructivist approach. In this respect, the participatory action research incorporated a
series of actions to achieve the objectives of the research project. These actions
included in-depth interviews, trainings, semi-structured interviews, documentary
analysis, focus group and self-reports as multiple data collection techniques. Data
triangulation enhanced the validity and reliability of the research results.
Each action in the strategic implementation of the project was carefully planned in
order to realize efficient outcomes regarding my research aims and objectives.
Action I: In-depth Interviews with institute members
Focus: Exploring team work in the institute for collaborative decision making
process in relation to course design.
Action II: Training to institute members
Focus: Team work and decision making processes for course design
Action III: Semi-structured Interviews with online tutors
Focus: Evaluating the awareness of online tutors about the constructivist
approach
Action IV: Documents
Focus: Analyzing the course designs of online courses based on the criteria of the
constructivist approach
Action V: Training to online tutors
Focus: Creating awareness of constructivist approach based course design
Action VI: Focus groups with tutors
Focus: Integration and adaptation process to new approach
Action VII: Semi-structured Interviews with online tutors
Focus: Investigating the changes to teaching philosophy of tutors and examining
the skills development of online students
136
Action VIII: Semi-structured Interviews and Self-reports of Students
Focus: Investigating the role of constructivist approach based course design in
developing skills
Action IX: Evaluating the efficiency of the project and triangulating data
Data Collection Techniques
Research Theory, Practice
Diary Actions
Action X: Project Report as handbook
Through these actions, a lot of positive contributions were made to reaching successful
outcomes of the project. After implementation, the impacts were observed and
evaluated within a semester in which a handbook for practice was also distributed and
the reflections of the tutors gathered through feedback forms.
In these ways, the success of the project was revealed. The participatory action research
project very firmly provided change and development in how to design online courses
based on the constructivist approach and a team work culture.
In this research journey, I have a firm belief that I showed a high level of responsibility
in managing the project and engaging the collaboration of the research participants,
consultants and adviser. “Being strategic” was a key tool at every step of the process
for me.
7.3 Professional Knowledge and Practice
As my educational background and experiences were related to education and
communication, my project motivated me to improve the level of professionalism in
the field of online education. I also recognized that focusing on theoretical work was
not sufficient in higher education practice, and that my project had to lead to practical
137
results for me and my colleagues. In this respect, the aim was to see a Distance
Education Institute functioning as a coherent team in which collaboration, knowledge
exchange and transfer were the foundations of better working practice.
In this respect, the chosen research approach and cycle were highly appropriate. Both
the core members and myself internalized the action research cycle and learned how to
change and develop working practices through collaborative efforts. By the end of the
research project, the following outcomes had been achieved and reflect a harmonic
picture of our collaborative, professional efforts.
� Team work culture: Team work and collaboration were practiced within the
research process and were the critical success factor in the innovation and
change. The project teams functioned properly to propose change to course
design and implemented the constructivist approach to promote student
learning and skills development. Through this process, the tutors gained
pedagogical insights into course design and developed their professional
learning through collaboration. In addition, a team work culture was
established that helped the Institute to act together in terms of its quality
mission.
� The role of course design: Course design based on the constructivist approach
in the practical work demonstrated that collaborative work and research
activities, communication and negotiation, and integration of learning and
experiences with real life experiences within the courses are the essential
elements for deep, active learning and skills development.
� Learning and skills: Course design based on the constructivist approach
provided in-depth knowledge of subject matter. It also enhanced deeper and
more active learning and this resulted in developing student self-responsibility,
138
higher order thinking, critical analytical thinking, and research, communication
and presentation skills.
Living in a small community and having a centralized education system as a cultural
element of this society tends to lead people to think in structured, fixed ways, but
hesitate to innovate and show flexibility. In this respect, it is not easy for people to
embark on a change process and collaborate with others in that process. Simply, the
society is not very open to experiencing new learning and teaching processes. This
meant that the online education project was in fact a very challenging one. As a senior
instructor in Educational Sciences Department, I attempted to use alternative learning
and teaching methods to diffuse de-centralized education, and stress the importance of
collaboration in learning, the importance of intellectual flexibility and adaptation skills
for future experiences.
The project was the culmination of a great deal of effort, including a masters degree
and ten years experience of diffusing the importance of online education through
academic papers, conferences, association membership and work within the Distance
Education Institute. It is to be hoped that this Doctorate of Professional Studies project
is a reflection of how I managed the challenges as worker researcher and how I helped
others transform their ways of understanding for innovation and change in better
working performance.
As stated, the project aimed to implement the constructivist approach into online
courses through a team work culture. It proposed innovation, change and development
in working practice. The literature review and the EUA report confirmed the
significance the project and its objectives.
The research itself comprised a series of deliberately planned and implemented
strategic steps, commencing with persuading participants to be part of the research and
139
allocating project resources. Trust, communication, management skills and showing
evidence of expertise were important in terms of gaining the confidence and
enthusiastic participation of prospective participants. A research package that included
aim, objectives, consent form, and details of the action process action research process
was an essential tool in this regard.
Because of the economic problems of this small community, it is difficult to find
sponsors and financial support for research projects. I applied for funding to the
University and the Ministry of Education. This was a long, slow and difficult process,
which had to be very carefully and strategically prepared and managed in order to
arrive at a positive result. In short, two major challenges had to be faced at the outset,
one of which was motivating participation and the other of which was acquiring
resources. This in itself greatly contributed to my management, research, leadership
and communication skills.
In the research itself, I generated a large amount of data through various data collection
techniques including in-depth interviews, feedback forms from training, semi-
structured interviews, documentary analysis, self-reports, researcher diary and feedback
forms of evaluation on the efficiency of the project as a whole. I managed the large
amounts of data through triangulation.
During the research process, I put great effort into the management and organization of
each and every event. Finding appropriate times and places for participants to meet
proved difficult because of their diverse workloads and schedules and is just one
example of the many issues that had to be negotiated.
Some elements of the project were extremely new to the participants. For example,
they had never experienced focus group activities before and it proved quite difficult to
explain how the activities work. It is particularly pleasing therefore that the focus group
140
activity was the most constructive data collection technique employed in the research
process.
At each stage in the research I had to be proactive, well planned and strategic. I had to
manage my dual roles as worker and researcher and cope with a heavy load of teaching
as well as responsibilities as an executive peer journal reviewer, and a pregnancy. The
following figure summarize how I managed the research process in relation to the
research objectives and what was achieved in the process:
Research Objective: To create awareness of the constructivist
approach in online education through training
Evidence of Achievement: Semi-structured interviews and the
documentary analysis were employed to explore the awareness of
online tutors on the constructivist approach in online courses. In
respect to results, it was necessary to train tutors how to prepare and
design online courses based on the approach. Therefore, training
became helpful to diffuse knowledge and share knowledge and
experiences of online pedagogy.
Research Objective: To create awareness in Distance Education Institute
members regarding team work for decision making about course design
Evidence of Achievement: Research package was distributed to all
members to inform them about the research process and the necessity of
working collaboratively for better working practice. In-depth interviews
employed in participatory action research to explore the awareness of the
institute members about team work culture for collaborative decision making
showed the necessity of expanding knowledge and experience about team
work culture for better working practice. In this respect, training was
employed and project teams were constructed within the institute to work
together to solve problems through consensus and collaborative solutions.
141
Figure 6. Research Objectives and Achievement.
This work based research project has had a great impact on my professional studies. I
have started a consultancy for the purpose of opening an online education system in a
new university, continue to present papers in international conferences and am
publishing a research paper in educational technology field.
Research Objective: To integrate the constructivist approach into
online courses and to develop the critical thinking skills of online
students.
Evidence of Achievement: After the training, the new approach was
implemented. Focus group activity provided evidence of the adaptation
of the new approach through the collaboration of the tutors. Semi-
structured interviews with tutors and the students and self-reports
revealed the role of the constructivist approach in improving generic
skills of the students. Evaluating the efficiency of the project through
feedback forms confirmed the success of the research process.
Research Objective: To contribute to organizational change in terms of
the instructional design within distance education practices
Evidence of Achievement: Each action in the participatory action
research helped me achieve the expected outcomes. Significantly, team
work culture was constructed, the constructivist approach was
implemented and contributed to improving student learning and skills
better working practice. Evaluation of the research project showed that
participants were satisfied to have been part of the change and
development. The handbook prepared for Institute members and the
Higher Education Councils in Turkey and North Cyprus provides more
evidence of achievement, as do a published paper, an academic conference
presentation and the dissemination of project results to the public, media
and professionals. The project concluded with the presentation of
certificates to the online tutors by the Distance Education Institute in
recognition of the achievements.
142
In addition, I have been involved in a new project as a responsible researcher about
strategic planning and management, established negotiations with distance education
professionals and become a member of ACCE Spaces of Interaction. These
professional activities confirm the contributions of the research project and the value of
studying for the Doctorate of Professional Studies.
Finally, it is important to restate the parameters of the research process:
• The research was conducted at the EMU Distance Education Institute in the
2008-2010 Academic Years.
• I had dual roles as worker and researcher which created a substantial
workload during the research process.
• Participants had no prior knowledge and experience of online pedagogy.
• There were sixteen members and fourteen students involved in the research
as volunteer participants.
• It was the first experience for me as a researcher and for the participants of
participatory action research.
• In the participatory action research, in-depth interviews, training, semi-
structured interviews, documentary analysis, focus groups, self-reports and a
research diary were used as multiple data collection techniques.
In relation to the achievements and the parameters of the participatory action research
process, I considered ethics at each stage. I managed my own learning, allocated
resources, diffused of research and professional knowledge and conducted critical
analysis. In short the ‘culture’ of my project was characterised by a high level of
responsibility. My dedication to change and development for better working practice
and continuing professional development is a lifelong journey but one that will forever
incorporate my experiences and learning in the Doctorate of Professional Studies.
143
References
Adams, S, M, 2007, ‘From distance to online: a consortium approach’, On The
Horizon, 15, 3, pp 190-95.
Allan, J, & Lawless, N, 2003, ‘Stress caused by on-line collaboration in e-learning: a
developing model’, Education + Training, 45, 8/9, pp 564-72.
Altinay, L, & Parakevas, A, 2008, Planning research in hospitality and tourism,
Oxford: Elsevier.
Altrichter, H, Posch, P, & Somekh, B, 1993, Teachers investigate their work, London:
Routledge.
Anderton, B, 2006, ‘Using the online course to promote self-regulated learning
strategies in pre-service teachers’, Journal of Interactive Online Teaching, 5, 2, pp 156-
177.
Andrew, A, M, 2004, ‘Questions about constructivism’, Kybernetes, 33, 9/10, pp1392-
95.
Armsby, P, 2000, Methodologies of Work Based Learning, SEDA Paper 109, The Staff
and Educational Development Association, Birmingham.
144
Ausburn, L, J, 2004, ‘Design components most valued by adult learners in blended
online education environments: an American perspective’, Educational Media
International, 41, 4, pp 327-37.
Badu, E, E, 2002, ‘Team management and university libraries in Ghana: the influence
of culture, Library Management’, 23, 6/7, pp 287-93.
Beatty, R, Bedford, J, & et al, 2008, ‘Recording action research in a classroom: singing
with chickadees’, Educational Action Research, 16, 3, pp 335-45.
Bell, J, 2007, ‘E-learning: your flexible development friend?’, Development and
Learning in Organizations, 21, 6, pp 7-9.
Bennett, N, et al., 1999, Patterns of core and generic skill provision in higher education.
Higher Education, 37,1, pp 71-93.
Biggs, J, 1999, Teaching for quality learning at university, Buckingham: The Society
for research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Bleimann, U, 2004, ‘Atlantis University: a new pedagogical approach beyond e-
learning’, Campus-Wide Information Systems, 21, 5, pp191-95.
Bravo, C, Redondo, M, A, Ortega, M, & Verdejo, M, F, 2006, ‘Collaborative
environments for the learning of design: a model and a case study in Domotics’,
Computer & Education, 46, pp 152-173.
145
Bokeno, M, 2008, ‘Complexity: an alternative paradigm for teamwork development’,
Development and Learning in Organizations, 22, 6, pp 7-10.
Bogdan, R, C, & Biklen, S, K, 1992, Qualitative research for education, Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.
Brown, T, H, 2006, ‘Beyond constructivism: navigationism in the knowledge era’, On
The Horizon, 14, 3, pp108-120.
Bryman, A, 2004, Social research methods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bustingorry, S, O, 2008, ‘Towards teachers’ professional autonomy through action
research’, Educational Action Research, 16, 3, pp 407-21.
Castka, P, Bamber, C, J, & Sharp, J, M, 2003, ‘Measuring teamwork culture: the use of
a modified EFQM model’, Journal of Management Development, 22, 2, pp 149-170.
Castka, P, Sharp, M, J, & Bamber, C, J, 2003, ‘Assessing team development to
improve organizational performance’, Measuring Business Excellence, 7, 4, pp 29-36.
Cavaleri, S, & Reed, F, 2008, ‘Leading dynamically complex projects’, International
Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 1, 1, pp 71-87.
Clark, R, C, & Mayer, R, E, 2003, E-learning and the science of instruction, San
Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
146
Chang, K, E, Sung, Y, T, & Lee, C, L, 2003, ‘Web-based collaborative inquiry
learning’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19, pp 56-69.
Chii, A, Chiang, C, Pak, I, & Fung, W, 2004, ‘Redesigning chat forum for critical
thinking in a problem-based learning environment’, Internet and Higher Education, 7,
pp 311-28.
Crow, J, & Smith, L, 2003, ‘Using co-Teaching as a means of facilitating
interprofessional collaboration in health and social care’, Journal of Interprofessional
Care, 17, 1, pp 45-55.
Cohen, L, Manion, L, & Morrison, K, 2000, Research methods in education, London:
RoutledgeFalmer.
Combe, C, 2005, ‘Developing and implementing an online doctoral programme’,
International Journal of Educational Management, 19, 2, pp 118-27.
Cook, T, 2004, ‘Reflecting and learning together: action research as a vital element of
developing understanding and practice’, Educational Action Research, 12, 1, pp 77-99.
Cooperstein, S, E, & Weidinger, E, K, 2004, ‘Beyond active learning: a constructivist
approach to learning’, Reference Services Review, 32, 2, pp 141-48.
Cotton, T, & Griffiths, M, 2007, ‘Action research, stories and practical philosophy’,
Educational Action Research, 15, 4, pp 545-61.
147
Creswell, J, W, 1994, Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches,
United Kingdom: SAGE.
Curtis, D, D, & Lawson, M, J, 2001, ‘Exploring collaborative online learning’, Journal
of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5, 1, pp 21-34.
Denzin, N, K, & Lincoln, Y, S, 2003, Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials,
London:SAGE.
Denton, D, K, 2006, ‘Making changes within a team’, Team Performance
Management, 12, 3/4, pp 82-90.
Dillon, A, 2000, ‘Designing a better learning environment with the web: problems and
prospects’, CyberPsychology and Behavior, 3, 1 , pp 97-102.
Doolittle, P, 1997, ‘Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as a theoretical
foundation for cooperative learning’, Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 8, 1,
pp 83-103.
Driver, M, 2003, ‘Improving group learning through electronically facilitated skillful
discussions’, Learning Organization, 10, 5, pp 283-93.
Duffy, T, M, & Jonassen, D, H, 1991, ‘Constructivism: new implications for
instruction technology’, Educational Technology, pp 7-12.
148
Duffy, T, M, & Jonassen, D, 1992, Constructivism and the technology of instruction:A
conservation. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Duffy, T, M, & Cunningham, D, J, 1996, ‘Constructivism: implications for the design
and delivery of instruction, in Jonassen, D.H. (Ed.), Handbook of research for
educational communication & technology, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Duffuaa, S, O, Al-Turki, U, M, & Hawsawi, F, M, 2003, ‘Quality function deployment
for designing a basic statistics course’, International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, 20, 6, pp 740-50.
Dyer, W, 1977, Team building: Issues and alternatives, Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Edward, N, S, 2001, ‘Evaluation of a constructivist approach to student induction in
relation to students’ learning styles’, EUR. J. ENG. ED, 26, 4, pp 429–40.
Ehrmann, S, C, 2002, ‘Using Technology to Improve Outcomes of Higher
Education:Learning from Past Mistakes’, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning
Development, Oxford.
Eilertsen, T, V, Gustafson, N, & Salo, P, 2008, ‘Action research and micropolitics in
Schools’, Educational Action Research, 16, 3, pp 295-309.
Elbaum, B, Mclntyre, C, & Smith, A, 2002, Essential elements: Prepare, design, and
teach your online course, Madison: Atwood publishing.
149
Ellis, R, A, Hughes, J, Weyers, M, & Riding, P, 2008, ‘University teacher approaches
to design and teaching and concepts of learning technologies’, Teaching and Teacher
Education.
Ennew, C, T, & Young, A, F, 2006, ‘Weapons of mass instruction? The rhetoric and
reality of online learning’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24, 2, pp 148-57.
EMU. http://www.emu.edu.tr/mevzuat/Eng-Rules05/administration/str-plan.doc
EUA Report. (2007). http://www.emu.edu.tr/EUA-report.pdf.
Finger, S, Gelman, D, Fay, A, Szczerban, M, Smailagic, S, & Siewiorek, D, P, 2006,
‘Supporting collaborative learning in engineering design’, International Journal of
Expert Systems and Applications.
Fisher, M, & Baird, D, E, 2005, ,Online learning design that fosters student support,
self-regulation, and retention’, Campus-Wide Information Systems, 22, 2, pp 88-10.
Fraenkel, J, R, & Wallen, N, E, 2000, How to design & evaluate research in Education,
Boston:McGraw-Hill.
Francis, D, & Young, D, 1979, Improving work groups: A practical manual for team
building, California: San Diego University Associates.
150
Freebody, P, 2003, Qualitative research in education: Interaction and practice,
London: SAGE.
Fogelman, K, “Surveys and Sampling” in Coleman, M. & Briggs, R. J. (2002)
Research Methods in Educational Leadership and Management, London: Paul
Chapman.
Fosnot, C, T, 1996, ‘Constructivism: A psychological theory of learning’ in C, T,
Fosnot (ed) Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice, New York: Teacher
College Press.
Gilbert, S, D, 2001, How to be a successful online student, San Francisco: McGraw-
Hill.
Gill, J, & Johnson, P, 1997, Research methods for managers, London:Paul Chapmann.
Gold, S, 2001, ‘A constructivist approach to online training for online teachers’,
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 15, 1 , pp 35-57.
Go´mez, P, Gonza´lez, M, J, Gil, F, Lupia´n˜ez, J, L, Moreno, M, F, Rico, L, &
Romero, I. 2007, ‘Assessing the relevance of higher education Courses’, Evaluation
and Program Planning, 30, pp 149–60.
Gonzalez, C, B, Hernandez, T, Kusch, J, & Ryan, C, 2004, ‘Planning as action
Research’, Educational Action Research, 12, 1, pp 59-77.
151
Gulati, S, 2004, ‘Constructivism and Emerging Online Learning Pedagogy: A
Discussion for Formal to Acknowledge and Promote the Informal’, Annual Conference
of the Universities Association Continuing Education-Regional Futures: Formal and
Informal Learning Perspectives, Centre for Life-long Learning, University of
Glamorgan.
Gunasekaran, A, McNeil, R, D, & Shaul, D, 2002, ‘E-learning: research and
Applications’, Industrial and Commercial Training, 34, 2, pp 44-53.
Haartsen-Geven, M, & Sandberg, J, 2007, ‘Developing constructivist learning
environments: a management framework’, Interactive Technology and Smart
Education, 4, 3, pp 147-160.
Hall, R, 2002, ‘Aligning learning, teaching and assessment using the web: An
evaluation of pedagogic approaches’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 33, 2,
pp 149-58.
Halton, M, J, 2004, ‘Putting professional development into action by putting action into
professional development in second level schools in Ireland?’, Educational Action
Research, 12, 1, pp 127-45.
Hammersley, M, & Atkinson, P, 1983, Ethnography: Principles in practice, London:
Tavistock.
152
Harris, H, & Bretag, T, 2003, ‘Reflective and collaborative teaching practice: working
towards quality student learning outcomes’, Quality in Higher Education, 9, 2, pp 179-
85.
Hartman, J, Dziuban, C, & Moskal, P, 2007, ‘Strategic initiatives in the online
environment: opportunities and challenges’, On The Horizon, 15, 3, pp 157-68.
Ho, E, S, 2006, ‘Educational decentralization in three Asian societies: Japan, Korea and
Hong Kong’, Journal of Educational Administration, 44, 6, pp 590-603.
Houston, D, 2008, ‘Rethinking quality and improvement in higher education’, Quality
Assurance in Education, 16, 1, pp 61-79.
Huang, H, M, 2002, ‘Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning
Environments’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 33, 1, pp 27-37.
Hubbard, R. S, & Power, B, M, 1993, The art of classroom inquiry, USA: Heinemann.
Hughes, M, & Daykin, N, 2002, ‘Towards constructivism: Investigating students’
perceptions and learning as a result of using an online environment’, Innovations in
Education and Teaching International, 39, 3, pp 217-24.
Huszczo, G, 1990, ‘Training for team building’, Training and Development, 44, 2, pp
37-43.
153
Huszczo, G, 1990, ‘Professional development for team building’, Professional
Development and Development Journal, pp 37-43.
Hutchins, H, M, & Hutchison, D, 2008, ‘Cross-disciplinary contributions to e-learning
design: a tripartite design model’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 20, 5, pp 364-80.
Jeffery, A, B, Maes, J, D, & Bratton-Jeffery, M, F, 2005, ‘Improving team decision-
making performance with collaborative modelling’, Team Performance Management,
11, 1/2, pp 40-50.
Jonassen, D, H, 1991, ‘Evaluating constructivist learning’, in Duffy, T, M, & Jonassen,
D, H, (eds) Constructivism and the technology of education, Mahwah: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Jonassen, D, H, 1994, ‘Thinking technology: towards a constructivist design model’,
Educational Technology, pp 34-7.
Jonassen, D, H, 1999, ‘Designing constructivist learning environments, in Reigeluth,
C,M, (ed) Instructional Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory,
Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Johnson, D, & Johnson, F, 1991, Joining together: Group theory and group skills,
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
154
Jung, I, Choi, S, Lim, C, & Leem, J, 2002, ‘Effects of different types of instruction on
learning achievement, satisfaction and participation in web-based instruction’,
Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 39, 2, pp153-62.
Kaya, Z, 2002, Uzaktan egitim, Ankara: Pegem Yayincilik.
Kim, K, J, Liu, S, & Bonk, C, J, 2005, ‘Online MBA students’ perceptions of online
learning: Benefits, challenges, and suggestions’, Internet and Higher Education, 8, pp
335-44.
Lanza, P, 1985, ‘Team appraisals’, Personnel Journal, 64, p 47.
Lam, Y, L, J, 2005, ‘School organizational structures: effects on teacher and student
learning’, Journal of Educational Administration, 43, 4, pp 387-401.
Laurillard, D, 2002, Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for
the effective use of learning technology, London:Routledge.
Ledwith, M, 2007, ‘On being critical: uniting theory and practice through emancipatory
action research’, Educational Action Research, 15, 4, pp 597-13.
Lefoe, G, 1998, ‘Creating constructivist learning environments on the web: the
challenge in higher education’, ASCILITE, pp 453-64.
155
Leinonen, P, & Bluemink, J, 2008, ‘The distributed team members' explanations of
knowledge they assume to be shared’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 20, 1, pp 38-53.
Lemmergaard, J, 2008, ‘Roles in the ISD process: a collaborative approach’, Journal of
Enterprise Information Management, 21, 5, pp 543-56.
LoBue, R, 2002, ‘Team self-assessment: problem solving for small workgroups’,
Journal of Workplace Learning, 14, 7, pp 286-97.
Lomax, P, McNiff, J, & Whitehead, J, 1996, You and your action research project,
London: Routledge.
Macdonald, J, 2003, ‘Assessing online collaborative learning: process and product’,
Computer & Education, 40, pp 377-91.
Marcinkoniene, R, & Keka¨le, T, 2007, ‘Action research as culture change tool’, Baltic
Journal of Management, 2, 1, pp 97-109.
Margaryan, A, 2008, ‘Supporting instructors in innovation: a three-component
approach’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 20, 6, pp 400-15.
Marshall, C, & Rossman, G, B, 1999, Designing qualitative research, Thousand Oaks:
SAGE.
156
Mason, R, 2002, ‘E-learning: What Have We Learnt?, Oxford Centre for Staff and
Learning Development, Oxford.
McLoughlin, C, & Luca, J, 2002, ‘A learner-centred approach to developing team skills
through web-based learning and assessment’, British Journal of Educational
Technology, 33, 5, pp 571-82.
McLuckie, J, & Topping, K, J, 2004, ‘Transferable skills for online peer learning’,
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29, 5, pp 564-84.
McPherson, M, & Nunes, M, B, 2006, ‘Organisational issues for e-learning critical
success factors as identified by HE practitioners’, International Journal of Educational
Management, 20, 7, pp 542-58.
Merrill, M. D. (1992). ‘Constructivism and Instructional Design’, In Duffy, T,
Jonassen, D, H, (Ed.).Constructivism and the technology of instruction: a conversation,
London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Meyer, K, 2002, Quality in distance education, San Francisco: Wiley Periodicals.
Middlesex University Module Guide Handbook, 2008.
Mills, G, E, 2003, Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Ohio: Pearson
Education.
157
Morrison, D, 2003, ‘Using activity theory to design constructivist online learning
environments for higher order thinking. A retrospective analysis’, Canadian Journal of
Learning and Technology, 29, 3.
Moon, S, Birchall, D, & Williams, S, 2005, ‘Developing design principles for an e-
learning programme for SME managers to support accelerated learning at the
workplace’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 17, 5/6, pp 370-84.
Moore, J, 2004, ‘Living in the basement of the ivory tower: a graduate student’s
perspective of participatory action research within academic institutions’, Educational
Action Research, 12, 1, pp 145-63.
Moravec, J, W, 2008, ‘A new paradigm of knowledge production in higher education’,
The Horizon, 16, 3, pp 123-36.
Neo, M, 2005, ‘Web-enhanced learning: engaging students in constructivist learning’,
Campus-Wide Information Systems, 22, 1, pp 4-14.
Newby, T, J, Stepich, D, A, Lehman, J, D, & Russell, J, D, 2000, Instructional
technology for teaching and learning: designing instruction, integrating computers,
and using media, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Olaniran, B, A, 2006, ‘Applying synchronous computer-mediated communication into
course design: Some considerations and practical guides’, Campus-Wide Information
Systems, 23, 3, pp 210-20.
158
Oliver, R, 2002, ‘Winning the Toss and Electing to Bat: Maximizing the Opportunities
of Online Learning’, Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford.
Osborn, M, & Theodore, C, 2005, ‘Constructivist Online Pedagogy; The Trials and
Tribulations of Novices’, Australian Association for Institutional Research, Australia.
Oshima, J, Oshima, R, Inagaki, S, Takenaka, M, Nakayama, H, & Yamaguchi, E. et al.
2003, ‘Teachers and researchers as a design team: Changes in their relationship through
a design experiment using Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
technology’, Education, Communication, and Information, 3, 1, pp 105–27.
O’Sullivan, D, 2003, ‘Online project based learning in innovation management’,
Education+Training, 45, 2, pp 10-117.
Pallof, R, M, & Pratt, K, 2003, The virtual student, San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
Park, S, Henkin, A, B, & Egley, R, 2005, ‘Teacher team commitment, teamwork and
trust: exploring associations’, Journal of Educational Administration, 43, 5, pp 462-79.
Passfield, R, 2002, ‘Creating innovation and synergy through a parallel action learning
structure’, The Learning Organization, 9, 4, pp 150-58.
Patel, N, V, 2003, ‘A holistic approach to learning and teaching interaction: factors in
the development of critical learners’, International Journal of Educational
Management, 17, 6, pp 272-84.
159
Patton, M, Q, 2002, Qualitative evaluation and research methods, London: SAGE.
Peel, D, Shortland, S, 2004, ‘Student teacher collaborative reflection: perspectives on
learning together’, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 41, 1, pp 49-
58.
Perkins, D, N, 1991, ‘What constructivism demands of the learner’, Educational
Technology, 31, 9, pp 19-21.
Poerksen, B, 2005, ‘Learning how to learn’, Kybernetes, 34, 3/4, pp 471-84.
Pring, R, 2000, Philosophy of educational research. London: Biddles Ltd.
Rabey, G, 2003, ‘Paradox of teamwork’, Industrial and Commercial Training, 35, 4,
pp 158-62.
Ramsden, P, 1992, Learning to teach in higher education, London: Routledge.
Reihlen, M, & Apel, B, A, 2006, ‘Internationalization of professional service firms as
learning – a constructivist approach’, International Journal of Service Industry
Management, 18, 2, 140-51.
Reeves, T, C, Herrington, J, & Oliver, R, 2004, ‘A development research agenda for
online collaborative learning’, ETR&D, 52, 4, pp 53-65.
160
Rowley, J, 2003, ‘Action research: an approach to student work based learning’,
Education + Training, 45, 3, pp 131-38.
Saito, E, Hawe, P, Hadiprawiroc, S, & Empedhe, S, 2008, ‘Initiating education reform
through lesson study at a university in Indonesia’, Educational Action Research, 16, 3,
pp 391-407.
Salmon, G, 2002, E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online, London:
Kogan Page.
Salter, D, Richards, L, & Carey, T, 2004, ‘The ‘T5’ design model: An instructional
model and learning environment to support the integration of online and campus based
courses’ Educational Media International, 41, 2, pp 207-17.
Saunders, M, Lewis, P, & Thornhill, A, 2000, Research methods for business students,
London: Prentice Hall.
Savery, J, & Duffy, T, M, 2001, Problem based learning: An instructional model and
its constructivist framework, Centre for Research on Learning and Technology.
Bloomington.
Savolainen, T, Finland, J, & Haikonen, A, 2007, ‘Dynamics of organisational learning
and continuous improvement in six sigma implementation’, The TQM Magazine, 19, 1,
pp 6-17.
161
Schwarber, P, D, 2005, ‘Leaders and the decision-making process’, Management
Decision, 43, 7/8, pp 1086-92.
Schön, D, 1991, The reflective practitioner, Avebury: Ashgate Publishing.
Scott, D, & Usher, R, 1999, Researching education: Data, methods and theory in
educational enquiry, New York: Continuum.
Silverman, D, 2005, Doing qualitative research, London: SAGE.
Siritongthaworn, S, & Krairit, D, 2006, ‘Satisfaction in e-learning: the context of
supplementary instruction’, Campus-Wide Information Systems, 23, 2, pp 1065-0741.
Sit, J, W, H, Chung, J, W, Y, Chow, M, C, M, & Wong, T, K, S, 2005, ‘Experiences of
online learning: students’ perspective’, Nurse Education Today, 25, pp 140-47.
Slotte, V, Herbert, A 2006, ‘Putting professional development online: Integrating
learning as productive activity’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 18, 4, pp 235-47.
Sumanski, M, M, Kolenc, I, & Markic, M, 2007, ‘Teamwork and defining group
structures’, Team Performance Management, 13, 3,4, pp 102-16.
Stacey, E, Smith, P, J, & Barty, K, 2004, ‘Adult Learners in the Workplace: Online
learning and communities of Practice’, Distance Education, 25, 1.
162
Steffe, L, & Gale, J, 1995, Constructivism in education, Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Tarricone, P, & Luca, J, 2002. ‘Successful teamwork: A case study’, HERDSA, 640-46.
Taylor, R, W, 2002, ‘Pros and cons of online learning – a faculty perspective’, Journal
of European Industrial Training, 26, 1, pp 24-37.
Temponi, C, 2005, ‘Continuous improvement framework: implications for academia’,
Quality Assurance in Education, 13, 1, pp 17-36.
Trent, R, J, 2003, ‘Planning to use work teams effectively’, Team Performance
Management: An International Journal, 9, 3,4, pp 50-58.
Verma, G, K, & Mallick, K, 1999, Researching education: Perspectives and
techniques, London: Falmer Press.
von Glasersfeld, E, 1995, ‘A constructivist approach to teaching’ in Steffe, L, P, & J.
Gale, J, (eds.) Constructivism in education, Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Walker, D, H, T, Anbari, F, T, Bredillet, C, Söderlund, J, Cicmil, S, & Thomas, J,
2008, ‘Collaborative academic/practitioner research in project management examples
and applications’, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 1, 2, pp
168-92.
163
Wallace, M, 2002, ‘Managing and developing online education: issues of change and
identity’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 14, 5, pp 198-208.
Wang, M, Poole, M, Harris, B, & Wangemann, P, 2001, ‘Promoting online
collaborative learning experiences for teenagers’, Education Media International, 38,
4, pp 203-15.
Water, H, Ahaus, K, & Rozier, R, 2008, ‘Team roles, team balance and performance’,
Journal of Management Development, 27, 5, pp 499-512.
Wen, M, L, & Tsai, C, C, 2006, ‘University students’ perceptions of and attitudes
toward (Online) peer assessment’, Higher Education, 51, 1, pp 27-44.
Wiensenberg, F, & Stacey, E, 2005, ‘Reflections on teaching and learning online:
Quality program design, delivery and support issues from a cross-global perspective’,
Distance Education, 26, 3, pp 385-404.
Williams, L, 2007, ‘A contemporary tale of participatory action research in
Aotearoa/New Zealand: applying a power-culture lens to support participatory action
research as a diverse and evolving practice’, Educational Action Research, 15, 4, pp
13-631.
Wilhelm, W, J, 2003, ‘Teaching communications online using the master teacher
model’, Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, 45, 1, pp 34-47.
164
Wilson, B, Lowry, M, 2000, ‘Constructivist Learning on the Web. Liz Burge (Ed.),
Learning technologies: Reflective and strategic thinking, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Whatley, J, & Bell, F, 2003, ‘Discussion across borders: benefits for collaborative
learning’, International Council for Education Media, 40, 1/2, pp 139-52.
Wolcott, H, S, 1995, The art of fieldwork, Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Yeh, E, Smith, C, Jennings, C, & Castro, N, 2006, ‘Team building: a 3-dimensional
teamwork model’, Team Performance Management, 12, 5/6 , pp 192-97.
Yuen, P, Y, 7 Cheng, Y, C, 2000, ‘Leadership for teachers' action learning’, The
International Journal of Educational Management, 14, 5, pp 198-209.
Zajc, L, S, & Bednarz, N, D, 2007, ‘Action research and collaborative research: their
specific contributions to professional development’, Educational Action Research, 15,
4, pp 577-97.
Zapalska, A, & Brozik, D, 2006, ‘Learning styles and online education’, Campus-Wide
Information Systems, 23, 5, pp 325-35.
165
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
European University Association (EUA)
Institutional Evaluation Programme
May 2007
166
EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY
EUA EVALUATION REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. The context of the evaluation
3. Assessment of the present-day situation
4. Capacity for change
5. Recommendations
A. The university’s mission and vision
B. The university’s strategic plan
C. The Bologna process and study programmes
D. Research
E. Financing and revenue streams
F. University governance and the role of students
G. International relations
H. Accreditation and Quality Assurance
6. Capacity for change and constraints: concluding remarks
167
Introduction:
The Eastern Mediterranean University, set up in 1986 on the basis of an Institute of Higher Technology created in Famagusta in 1979, has followed closely the development of the Institutional Evaluation Programme for the last few years. However, it was only in 2006, after EMU joined the EUA, that Rector Halil Güven asked the association to evaluate his institution, the main academic provider in the northern part of the island of Cyprus.
Set up in 1994, the institutional evaluation programme has already assessed more than 150 institutions of higher education in some 35 countries, in Europe and beyond. Its aim: to help university leadership teams – especially in EUA member universities -to understand the capacity for change of their own institutions. The process is based on a self-evaluation report assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the latter, a document intended to point to areas of possible transformation, for the university to meet the challenges linked both to its role in society and to the evolution of science and pedagogy. This report is then tested and validated by a team of outside experts, usually rectors or former rectors of European universities that have undergone a similar mirroring exercise. This explains the specificity of the EUA programme, i.e. to offer a supportive review of the process of institutional development as seen through the eyes of peers and colleagues rather than a judgement by auditors of the inherent quality of university activities. After two visits to the institution under review, the group of peers submits a report to the university assessing the situation and offering recommendations for enhancing its capacity to change. This is the present document.
The Steering Committee in charge of the programme appointed the following as members of the review team for the Eastern Mediterranean University: professor Ferdinand Devinsky -as chair -, the former Rector of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, and – as members – professors Aine Hyland
and Bertrand Weil, respectively the former Vice-Presidents of the University of Cork, Ireland, and of Université Paris-12 Val de Marne, France. At the request of the assessed university, a student joined the group of academic peers, on behalf of ESIB, the national unions of students in Europe: Bastian
Baumann is a graduate student in law from the Free University of Berlin, also studying higher education at the University of Kassel, Germany. Dr. Andris Barblan, former Secretary General of EUA and CRE, now in charge of the Magna Charta Observatory for fundamental university values and rights in Bologna, was asked to act as the team secretary.
The team made a preliminary visit to Famagusta on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 December 2006 to validate the findings of the self-evaluation report. This is a comprehensive, informative, complex, well-organised and dense document of some 35 pages outlining a rather difficult situation – several appendices illustrating, with position papers, graphs and figures, the development of the university over the past few years. To complete their understanding of the situation, the group asked for some complementary data that was received in time for the main visit, (12 to 14 March 2007) in order to assess the institution’s potential for change.
In the two visits, the EUA group of experts discussed the university situation with: -leaders and students from six faculties and schools (the faculties of arts and sciences, engineering, law, education, business and the English Preparatory School – that is of special importance in an English teaching institution); -representatives of outside society (the mayor of Famagusta, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, the chair of YÖDAK, the Higher Education Council for North Cyprus, as well as the President and some members of EMU Board of Trustees – for instance architects, builders and physicians committed to enlarging the university’s role in the region).
168
There were also intense discussions with the University leadership: the Rector, his team and the self-evaluation team; with the key officials in the university administration in charge of accounting, quality monitoring or staff development; and last, but not least the students and staff organisations also active in institutional decision-making. The more than 250 people met by the EUA team showed vivid interest in discussing the future and potential of their university, the oldest and largest on the island of
Cyprus. Despite a rather difficult situation characterised by the scarcity of resources, political isolation and the complexity of on-going changes, within and outside the institution, most EUA interlocutors showed keen interest in the specificity of an institution that has gambled from the first on developing a comprehensive range of studies to attract a wide audience of students well beyond Cypriot borders -as the Eastern Mediterranean reference of its name indicates. These many encounters were efficiently organised by Mehmet Altinay, the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, and his colleague at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Nazmi Buldanlioglu, who proved most professional in ensuring the best conditions for board and lodging – social programme included. The team would like to thank them, their staff and the many members of the university who received the EUA team for their willingness to help as well as their gracious hospitality.
The context of the evaluation
The environment: the city of Famagusta, on its southern side, borders the Green Line that cuts the island of Cyprus into two parts, Turkish-speaking in the North, Greek-speaking in the South. The Green Line, in fact, is a buffer zone a few kilometres wide, a no man’s land where the neighbouring town of Varosha (Maras) is a ghost city that was abandoned some thirty years ago. In everyday life, this frontier means different electrical grids, different transportation systems, different economies, i.e., a real breakdown of relations between northern and southern Cypriots – who are all citizens of the European Union however, since the island, in May 2004, joined the EU as a whole.
The moment: the Annan plan, accepted by the Northern Cypriots but rejected by the Southern Cypriot majority in April 2004, represented the latest and, in our opinion, missed opportunity to face the obvious – two communities -by offering political legitimacy to all parts of the island. However, the wall that had divided for decades the main thoroughfare in old Nicosia was demolished in March 2007 – perhaps a sign of growing exchanges between the people of the island. As far as the academic community is concerned, the European Higher Education Area has also become the reference for possible integration into an international environment of real scope. This is true for the two communities. Anyway, considering that the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Cultural
Convention in 1969 (when the island was still one entity), which legitimises an inclusion in the
Bologna process, the Turkish minority contends that it has been brought into the agreement de facto, all the more so as the Constitution of 1960 devolved power to the two communities as far as education and culture were concerned, like in most federal states. As a result, North Cyprus is asking the London conference of Ministers of Education in May 2007 to recognise that matter as a fact justifying the official inclusion of its institutions of higher education into the Bologna process towards 2010 and the finalisation of the European Higher Education Area.
Constraints and institutional norms
For the evaluation group, constraints are the elements given by the situation that the institution must take into account – with little chance to change them, in the near future at least. Obvious ones are the scarcity of resources; others are more hidden and perhaps more
169
important in terms of institutional capacity for change as they reflect the mentality and culture of the region and its people.
Background: The northern part of Cyprus is small and has a population of less than 260 000 people (some 200 000 being Turkish Cypriots) – a little community for the setting up of some 6 universities! Six universities may make sense only if they are part of the larger Turkish academic community, thus serving students from Turkey as an offshore centre of training services. This is what has indeed happened. At present, some 39 000 young people are involved in TRNC higher education, with 26 000 students (66.66%) coming from Turkey through the ÖSS selection process supervised by YÖK, the Higher Education Council in Ankara. As a result, the Northern Cypriots themselves only represent a quarter of the total number of students in the northern part of the island, with another 3 000 students coming from non-European parts of the world, the Middle East, Pakistan, Iran, Nigeria and the Cameroon, – a large part of these ‘international’ students is enrolled at EMU where teaching is provided in English. The Northern Cypriot identity of its higher education is thus at risk, since no other country has less than 25% of its nationals in its own institutions of higher education. Since 2004, moreover, the reality of EU citizenship calls for differentiated relations with Turkey and for the reaffirmation of the Cypriot identity as it opens to a much wider and varied community of belonging – so much so that Northern Cypriots now tend to register in English-speaking universities in Western Europe, as a way to breaking their isolation at individual level. Should this trend grow, the actual link of higher education in North Cyprus to the people of the island could become weaker still, with the young voting with their feet to achieve a normal existence on the continent they belong to. This could also be the consequence of the refusal of the Annan plan in the South, a situation regularly mentioned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – as recently as March this year when, in his report to the Human Rights Council, he wrote that ‘Turkish Cypriot students continue to be confronted with lack of access to the Erasmus, Socrates and Bologna processes or other European scholarship programmes. The issue has been linked to the non-recognition of Northern Cypriot universities. The right to education is a fundamental right, and the current situation prevents the free movement of students and staff and constrains academic freedom, the exchange of ideas and international competition’.
Economy: The northern part of the island lives on a budget of some 600 million US dollars (2006), local revenues covering only half that sum. The other half of the budget is supported by grants and subsidies from Turkey. Without it, the system would collapse even if the area enjoys a high level of GDP growth (10% in 2006) driven mainly by higher education and tourism. In other words, public money is scarce in the north. Nevertheless, higher education should be an important economic focus in these balancing efforts since it represents a key ‘industry’ in the northern part of the island, the reduction of which would have terribly destabilising consequences. Recently, direct trade between the two parts of the island has begun and EU money has been set aside from the structural funds to help develop infrastructures in the north.
Culture: Cyprus is part of the old Eastern Mediterranean culture that draws on a Roman and Ottoman past. This means that, next to the official system of rules and regulations, parallel structures of allegiance to the group and the family may validate or invalidate, may weaken or reinforce, decisions taken at public level. Knowing the right person could, sometimes, become more important than possessing the relevant piece of legislation. In fact, this adds another layer to the decision-making process, thus offering a more personal touch to the system of democratic deliberations. This could induce political arrangements that do not usually have the public good of the collective taken as a whole at heart. Political parties or social groupings thus may become key players in higher education.
170
In such a situation, any university must struggle, consciously and unconsciously, with the geographical, historical, cultural, legal, political and institutional factors the balancing of which for a constructive future requires redefining its academic role, identity and ambitions.
Such is the challenge the EUA team felt was being faced at the Eastern Mediterranean University, a name that articulates its specificity. From 1986 – when, under the sponsorship of YÖK in Ankara, it was decided to provide higher education to northern Cyprus -to 2004 and the referendum proposed by the ‘Annan plan’ for the reunification of Cyprus, EMU seems to have grown as an outpost of Turkish higher education, its specificity being its teaching in English (a not uncommon fact in Turkish higher education where several prestigious institutions conduct their work in foreign languages). In 2004, however, the ‘cypriotisation’ of EMU could be envisaged, with the aim of turning the institution – the oldest and the largest in the island -into a centre of learning for Cyprus as a whole, a bridge between peoples, cultures and nations of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Distancing themselves from Turkey did not equate to navel gazing but supposed collaboration with the Greek speaking University of Cyprus in Nicosia, while reinforcing the international specificity of the institution. This meant investing in foreign students and foreign staff in order to balance the Turkish influence that had presided over EMU beginnings. The failure of the Annan plan left EMU in an uncomfortable position, its ambitions being dampened, and several of its members wondering if the best solution did not consist in accepting its satellite status of the Turkish higher education system -certainly not the best way to live up to the name of the institution. Others considered that the international strategy associated with the name of Prof. Halil Güven, the Rector appointed on the eve of the 2004 referendum with a vision of the enlarged role EMU could play in the area, was worth pursuing – despite adverse circumstances. Thus linkages with outside partners should remain the cornerstone of a strategy that could, in the long run, pave the way to de facto reintegration of EMU in the Cypriot landscape of higher education -Europe acting as the gateway to international acknowledgement.
Assessment of the present-day situation
The people: EMU’s present leadership wants to close the gap between the academic reality in Famagusta and its partial isolation by many countries of the world. EMU is no ghost institution, indeed it caters for some 15 000+ students registered in 7 Faculties – covering most fields except medicine -, in 2 schools (Computing and Technology; Tourism and Hospitality) as well as in English preparatory courses; these students use a rather splendid campus not far from the sea shore, on the edge of the city, a campus neatly organised and well endowed – especially if one considers the scarcity of means in the TRNC. The EUA team, in its many meetings, could appreciate the vitality of EMU, an institution of relevance for Turkish Cypriots (3 845 of them in this academic year) but also for Turkish nationals (8 236) who represent an overwhelming proportion of the student body not to speak of the young people with other national backgrounds (2 002). With 621 academics, the staff/student ratio oscillates between 12,7 in Engineering and 50,9 in Law – not uncommon figures in European higher education. The teaching staff is mainly Northern Cypriot (many of them having been trained in foreign universities) but 77 come from Turkey and another 91 from the rest of the world – a rather high presence of foreigners if compared with average institutions of higher education in Europe.
One of EMU’s weak points is the declining number of students of Northern Cypriot origin, a 26% decrease from its level of 2002/2003 (5 216) that is compensated by a 17% increase of Turkish students (from 7 044 to 8 236) during the same period. In parallel,
171
students from elsewhere have grown by 43% from 1 403 in 2002/2003 to 2 002 today. Thus, all in all, EMU has remained stable over the last five years, with a 3% increase of some 420 students only. The
decrease of local students, especially in 2005 and 2006, seems to reflect the advantage Northern Cypriots can take of their EU citizenship to obtain degrees more easily recognised in the world than those taken at EMU. As for the Turks, EMU’s intake depends very much on the results of the entrance exams all candidates to Turkish higher education have to take (ÖSS). The level of achievement of candidates accepted in various institutions is modulated in Ankara, thus influencing the quality and numbers of EMU’s potential students coming from Turkey. This dependency could be detrimental to EMU since the university does not really fix the conditions of access to its services. The EUA team heard, however, that the recent upgrading of the criteria decided in Ankara has led to a flow into Famagusta of better qualified Turkish students, a fact of importance considering that more than 60% of students at EMU come from its northern neighbour. The EUA experts felt that
counting on Turkish students to ensure the stability of student numbers at EMU is risky
since the receiving institution has little influence on who and how many may be invited to go to North Cyprus. When YÖK in Ankara changes its access policies, as it did recently, thus reducing drastically the number of students accepted in the system, this has immediate consequences on the island. Perhaps this is why, in the TRNC, efforts have been made to set up a Higher Education Council of their own, YÖDAK, that has just started to run entrance exams on the ÖSS model for the Northern Cypriots who had been accepted directly until then by each of the universities in the TRNC. It is too early to judge if, to counterbalance the Northern Cypriots’ attraction to EU universities, YÖDAK could be tempted to lower entry qualifications.
The contingent from other countries is linked much more to the policies of EMU itself and, over the last few years, campaigns have been made to recruit students from Asia and Africa, with EMU representatives stationed in some of the target countries like Iran or Pakistan. The opening to nations, often with an English tradition, kills two birds with one stone: ensuring the better use of English-speaking teachers in Famagusta, on the one hand, and, on the other, bringing to Northern Cyprus students used to expressing themselves in English in their everyday life so that the Turkish-speaking students may be encouraged to switch from their native language to the lingua franca of our day and time -also outside of their courses.
The finances: Public universities usually depend for a good part of their income on the grants and subsidies from the government – up to 80% of their needs in several European countries. EMU, although public, earns most of its finances through the fees asked from its students since they cover some 2/3 of the 60 million Euros needed to pay last year’s current costs. The main support from central authorities in the TRNC is supposed to come from the compensation the government has committed to in order to reduce by half the cost of studies for Cypriot nationals. The EUA team was rather surprised to hear that disbursement of the millions this represents, although promised, was often delayed. This contributes to the university running deficits on a regular basis, a sum representing, for the last academic year, 19% of the current budget. This obliges EMU to count on banks loans in order to cover some 6% of its regular expenditures. Efforts are certainly made to obtain consultancy mandates to fill the gap between needs and income but this proves rather difficult in a region with no real industrial development. Anyway, the revenue from consultancy work comes from the university itself, with no real support from public authorities. As for the investment budget, it depends nearly totally on earmarked grants from Turkey. The EUA team wondered indeed if it would not be easier for EMU to
become a private institution – free to decide about its fees and to sell its services -at cost price at least. The visitors were told that this was not possible since the government of TRNC or Turkey would never allow the only
172
state university of North Cyprus to become bankrupt. In other words, the public status of EMU seems to represent a life insurance policy. Looking at the problem from a governmental point of view, the EUA evaluators deemed strange such slim support considering that the nation depends mainly on higher education to drive, together with tourism, the development of the region. Could not the success of the sector in attracting thousands of young people in North Cyprus be encouraged by real investments supporting the attractiveness of academic activities – in terms of infrastructure or support for foreign staff, for instance, when their conditions of service could be improved to levels comparable to what exists in their own countries?
If there is no financial back up to support the legal interest authorities have in defining EMU’s administrative rules, this results, at best, in a weak institutional sense of accountability to the representatives of the nation. At worst, EMU members might deem they are taken advantage of by those people who benefit from the presence of a large university in the country – bringing money and employment to a city whose harbour has lost much significance after the embargo imposed on the TRNC, for instance. Indeed, with a population of some 50 000, Famagusta hosts today some 15 000+ students – a 30% proportion that would make it a university town in any other country. In 1996, the 8 500 students of EMU represented 21% of a population of 35 000. In other words, over the last ten years, the growth of the university seems to have been the motor of the 30% increase in the population of Famagusta. The EUA team was told by the local authorities that this was certainly the case but, apart from partnerships for water recycling and desalination or for cultural events, no real long term financial encouragement – even in terms of subsidised bus fares for the students seemed to be envisaged although the construction boom in the area was certainly beneficial to local finances. Economic representatives recognised the importance of these new activities – as stimulated by EMU in the region -but considered that embargoed industry needed more support than universities if it is to survive and develop in better times – also as an expected stimulus to academic activities. Anyway, in the growing building industry, the need was not for graduates but for carpenters, masons, plumbers and electricians – all trades that needed to be imported from outside at a great cost. In short, the university was not considered as really relevant to the immediate needs of the community; even the techno-park
may be perceived as an answer to future problems and, thus, is seen by stakeholders as useless for the moment. In any case – perhaps because of the uncertainty of the situation -the university was seen as slow to move, not ready to take risks, indeed as a spoilt child with too much staff, an object of envy. For the evaluators, EMU is not at the core of town interests: it was also obvious that the university, at that level too, has difficulty in being seen as a real – if not the main provider of wealth and prestige in the region. The EUA team wondered in fact what would happen to Famagusta if EMU, for whatever reason, had to close down: this would certainly result in economic depression and could have a domino effect on North Cyprus as a whole. In other words, if any public institution is to be accountable to society – and EMU seems ready to help define the collective needs of the group -society also has
obligations to that body. This means ensuring the best conditions for its development – at regional or local level. This is no one way street but an implicit agreement of partnership that could even be turned into an explicit contract that would determine each other’s duties and services. Otherwise, EMU might feel a foreign body in its own territory. This is again a matter of reality that needs to be proven to all, inor outside the country.
The organisation
In the case of EMU, there is one structure that exists as a partner for dialogue to discuss and sustain the conditions of today to a foreseeable and planned future: the Board of Trustees. An interface between government and the university, consisting mainly of non
173
academic members who represent the local community, the Board does not have more funds than the government it emanates from. Its mandatory role as a financial controller – checking the past – then takes over its strategic function – envisaging the future. Since it cannot provide the conditions of better times to come, the Board of Trustees is tempted into administrative micro-management of the legal and financial propriety of executive moves made at institutional level. As a result, and with no professional academic basis, it duplicates the role of EMU leadership, thus binding the latter into a maze of interventions that act as a brake rather than an engine for the future, which should be the Board’s role. The EUA team heard complaints that, through detailed accounting procedures, the Board in fact decides about the teaching/learning orientation of curricula. It also heard that career development of the staff engaged in an English-speaking environment was blocked by the low interest the Board had in this matter – rather academic, perhaps, but essential for the future of the university. In other words, the trustees do not have the means of their ambitions, i.e., the funds that, for the university, would justify the call for its accountability. Rather than acting as a buffer between the authorities and EMU, the Board mirrors the government’s monitoring role and finds itself in conflict with the institution it should defend and represent.
Basically, the university is owned by a Foundation whose state-appointed Board also acts as the trustee organ supposed to mediate between the needs of civil society and the provision of services EMU can render to meet those needs. A charter – called the university law in Famagusta – organised the university in 1986. It is now under review. The university is the main legal entity and is led by the rector – appointed by the Board on behalf of the government. Contrast this with the situation, for example, in the Netherlands where such a corporate organisation means that the Ministry appoints a Board of non-academics, which appoints the rector, who appoints the Deans, who appoint the department chairs. This chain of command corresponds to the line of responsibilities: chairs or departments are responsible for the use of the funds received from the Deans; Deans are responsible for the use of Faculty funds received from the Rector; the Rector is responsible for the funds received from the Board; and, finally, the Board is responsible for the funds received from the Ministry. Obligations thus dovetail with responsibilities. In North Cyprus, as mentioned earlier, the obligations do not correspond to responsibilities: the scheme is biased since resources do not flow from the top but are gathered at the bottom, for the moment by the university central offices. Faculties, however, are very much aware of the number of the students they serve – that is, of their contribution to the university budget: they would not mind being rewarded for their attractiveness, i.e., the number of students they accept. This factor is difficult to evaluate since each Faculty has a specific history having been created at different times. For instance, the older Faculty of Engineering and that of Computing and Technology are considered the strong points of EMU – backed by good research; less research-oriented and younger Faculties like Business Administration and Law seem to be more popular however. Totake account of those differences, the present administration is now trying to devolve considerable financial responsibilities to the Faculties – so that, for instance, they may regulate the recruitment policy -an important privilege in a university where staff costs represent 80 to 90% of the budget. However, final decisions about personnel are always referred to the Board of Trustees, since its approval is needed for all decisions with financial consequences. The EUA team had the impression that empowering the deans could backfire if the formal management structure keeps them under tutelage. All the more so, as the Faculties tend to go it alone as though they were not accustomed to working together – with the exception of those, like Art and Science, that service given departments in other Faculties that require basic teaching in mathematics, physics or languages. Thus, the possible transfer of responsibilities to units through funding was not really clearly understood in many places. It is as if the culture of risk that this presupposes is not mature yet; people have long been accustomed to
174
obtaining their scarce resources for action in a semi-automatic manner, directly from a centre that takes a 30% overhead for university-wide activities.
The Academic Senate is another important structure in the organisational chart of EMU. However, as its remit is limited to academic affairs only, its work consists mainly in course evaluation and programme development in teaching and research – the fundamental activities of any university like EMU. By law, however, it does not discuss the organisational and financial consequences of the changes it might propose to improve academic affairs. The EUA team felt that this sharp division of responsibilities between the Senate and the Board was not fully appropriate considering that means should follow the ends. After all, it is of no use to decide to increase the learning content of curricula in order to develop a university centred on student experience rather than professors’ expertise – an implication of the Bologna process – if the logistics cannot follow (more tutorials, more small working rooms, longer library opening hours, for instance) for obvious lack of resources. At least the framework of potential support should be made clear to Senate members so that they do not feel discouraged by the unreality of academic debates – that might remain ‘academic’ indeed. Moreover, apart from the Rector chairing the meetings, there was no direct line between the EMU executive and the Senate as the institution’s legislative body. This was remedied when the leadership team was reorganised in February 2007: a Vice rector for Academic Affairs was appointed with, among other responsibilities, the mandate for quality development in university activities.
Quality strategies
How can one create a sense of belonging to EMU in the university community? This seems to be one of the main problems of the university and its leaders. In order to create an EMU common identity – as if the existence of the institution as such had to be proved not only outside the campus but also among its members – the present university leaders have decided to base group energy on becoming an internationally recognised academic body (hence the importance of the EUA and IAU memberships acquired in 2005) and to streamline a body of common references that would offer shared language and values to the institution as a whole (that is why quality performance has become a central concern over the last two years). True, all administrative units have to be certified ISO 9001 by 2009 – an on-going process that, by now, has been implemented in several services. The English Preparatory School has been also innovating when forming ‘quality circles’ of some fifteen staff members asked to support each other in function of the problems met – as they arise. Moreover, there have been structured quality exercises in various faculties in order to analyse their lines of academic interest: for instance, the Faculty of Business and Economics has started a process of accreditation with the help of AASCB, the US professional association that looks into the credibility of teaching in business administration in America, but also overseas, when it is invited to do so. The Faculty of Engineering has recently completed a similar process with ABET, the main accrediting agency in the technological field in North America. Using the US as a benchmark, however, could seem somewhat contrary to the will of EMU to gamble on Europe and the acceptance of the Bologna process as the key to its institutional identity.
Therefore at EMU level, EUA is considered the main benchmark to refer to, if it is to validate its claim to become a partner in the construction of the European Higher Education Area, i.e., a fully credible partner in European eyes. Thus European discussions of quality matter. When the EUA team arrived in mid-December for its first visit, it was greeted by large signs hung onto the Venetian walls of the old city announcing proudly, under the EUA blue logo, that ‘Quality is our passion’. These flags were not for the evaluation team’s benefit, however, but represented what was left of an awareness-raising campaign in the university
175
and in its environment about the desired identity of EMU as a European provider of academic services. Indeed, the intranet system of the university was also beaming everywhere in the institution the quality ‘creed’ found in various documents of the Institutional Evaluation Programme of EUA – that has become in Famagusta the institutional ‘banner for change’. As a matter of fact, within EMU, electronic tools are at the heart of the communication strategy of the rector and his team.
For instance, the various drafts of the Self Evaluation Report were disseminated throughout the campus on the web, students and staff having direct access to the document with the possibility of commenting and amending those parts they were unhappy with. In the same way, when the strategic plan was discussed, electronic consultation was used to test the interest of the proposals that were also being negotiated with different partners in the institutions and beyond. Student evaluations of their
teachers are also put on the web, the students of some faculties being much more participative than others. The results of those electronic enquiries are not made public. The professors, in several departments, still have to be convinced that transparency is to the long term benefit of EMU. However, the results of the students’ global satisfaction survey are made public. The EUA team recognised in these various efforts the recommendations made by the IEP to universities willing to develop a quality culture that goes beyond meeting specific performance indicators in a bureaucratic way. The idea is to involve all members of the institution in the discussions affecting their own judgement of university activities. The EUA team, however, wondered if making public documents on the web can count as making staff and students real partners in a joint venture run under the flag of EMU. Indeed, the return of answers usually seemed rather low, almost as if university members did not feel especially motivated to enter into a constructive dialogue – not only among the students who, as a rule, indicated that they did not see the results of their remarks on staff performances. In other words, is the web publication of texts and papers an opinion poll or is it the opening of a democratic debate? In market research, indeed, the questioner wants to know the needs of the group being surveyed; thus, the supplier can adapt to demand. In a university, however, that wants to become a community of
belonging, questions should be the basis for a dialogue between equal but different people, so that opinions can be forged and policies turned around, if proved necessary. This means developing forums
of discussion tolerant of the unexpected. Such a deeper understanding of ‘consultancy’ explains perhaps the recent setting up of ‘student platforms’ where some 200 students meet in one room and point to what needs to be fixed, from their own point of view. Then, following TQM principles, the Vice-Rector for academic affairs must answer these queries in less than a month, saying what has gone wrong and why, if complaints prove justified. Gathering people together, however, does not turn them into partners for discussions on the future of the institution, i.e., members responsible for its development. This would mean moving from awareness to consciousness – at both individual and group level.
The EUA team heard a lot about the need for democracy but felt that the definition above – the possibility to explore a problem and imagine its solution in common – was often obscured by the factionalised approach to representation of opinions. The important thing for the various partners was to be represented on the bodies that count, the Board of Trustees in particular. Lobbying capacity as an understanding of democracy was very much part of the discourse of the Unions which insisted upon being given a place in all decision-making circles. The ‘direct’ democracy tried by EMU leadership could be felt as a threat for representative organisational models and might explain some of the disappointment expressed by several staff members who had supported the change process initiated by the present Rector when he started surfing on the hopes of national reconciliation in early 2004. Europe, today, or international acknowledgement, may seem to many an illusion not worth pursuing any longer since, over the last two years, the strategy of European credibility has not brought
176
the legitimacy it was supposed to provide despite the dispersed efforts made at changing curricula or at adopting ECTS along the lines of the Bologna process. This effort, however, can be seen as limited to credit accumulation alone considering the minimal mobility with European universities that has ensued. Dampened hopes, unfortunately, do not build trust.
Making sense of one’s own place in society
If the EUA visitors are right, the main problem in EMU today is to make sense of the many aspects of its academic and local environment where questions of acceptance of the past and review of the present overlap with each other very much on the model of Russian dolls. Students and staff must believe in
their university to make the institution strong as an academic provider. The institution must feel
clear about its identity in order to become a constructive partner in the development of its region. The
‘town’ must be confident in the potential contributions of the ‘gown’ to defend EMU’s role in the organisation of higher education in North Cyprus. The TRNC authorities must consider the university as an asset in their own struggle for recognition as a Cypriot community vis-à-vis Turkey or the rest of the world. Such an axis is all the more important so that change, with no overall understanding, should not be perceived as simple agitation – thus falling into the trap of fakes and useless arguments, very much like on a Shakespearean stage.
In view of the partial isolation EMU and North Cyprus suffer from, the EUA team commends the strategy launched by the present rector – international acknowledgement used as a common axis
around which all the matrioshkas mentioned above are to determine the how’s and why’s of their own existence. This is both EMU’s target and raison d’être – as summed up in the Eastern Mediterranean segment of its official name. However, at field level, the EUA team was surprised by the low awareness of the necessary image the university has to project outside, a challenge often by-passed because of the urgency of the immediate moment: most of the people met focus on their daily problems – meeting students in crammed facilities, coaching their progress while giving between 12 to 15 hours of courses a week – a load that does not allow interest in the didactical support of individuals nor commitment to the research supposed to renew teaching by opening the minds to innovation and unexpected truths. The heavy work load of professors also translates into the heavy work load of
students, thus condemning both groups – with some exceptions -to traditional ‘lecture theatre’ pedagogy. This is reinforced in Faculties like Law that, for instance, hire professors from Turkey who jet to Famagusta for two or three days of courses every two weeks. Obviously, these teachers cannot be fully dedicated to their students in North Cyprus -who regret the little chance they have of meeting those teachers when wishing to develop their own learning potential – or, even, when needing supervision for graduate work. In other fields, however, professors – despite the load of activities – are exploring new approaches to learning and take part in discussions on the ways to move from teaching to learning outcomes, a debate initiated by the will to follow the guidelines of the Bologna process. This often means they have little time to look over their shoulder, for instance, to the situation of academic provision in the Eastern Mediterranean, their official turf. The international opportunities at EMU itself could be taken better advantage of considering that the institution is already rather international with some 14% of non-Turkish native speakers, both among students and among teachers. However, this may open an unresolved question, that of the place of Turkey either as a foreign power or as a supporter of a wide cultural community that integrates North Cyprus. EMU could indeed face the question as an institution with a critical approach to even the most difficult problems, thus becoming the re-inventor of the Cypriot contribution to the specificity of the university and of the island -now that it is part of the European Union. The EU, as an international ground for a differentiated identity, has become a reality that could
177
help redefine the allegiances to the northern neighbour – a question that needs the capacity of objective reasoning to legitimise academic action.
The redefinition of an EMU identity should help frame the campaign of acknowledgement the university must launch to make it explicit. That is why EMU, as a member of the family of European universities, should go on doing all it can – for instance through EUA that represents all European universities – to develop the relations between EMU and the University of Cyprus, strictly on academic terms, thus planting the seeds of a new reality at a time when the separation is hindering more than helping the development of the island as a whole. This is certainly no easy proposition. As for the rest of the world – even if there are students and staff who would prefer the support of some American and Asian universities in order to be seen as a partner in world development -, the EUA team understands that, considering the whole island has become part of the European Union, non-European contacts and collaboration are certainly important but secondary to the links to Europe. This explains also why EMU would like to be given an Erasmus charter, not only as acknowledgement by the outside but also as a proof in its own ranks of the validity of its gamble on Europe. It would also legitimise the transformation of the institution when taking full account of the Bologna process, from study architecture, credits and diploma supplement to quality action. Even the ‘social dimension’ of the process might be met. Thus, in March 2007, EMU decided to allot 10% of the seats in decision-
making bodies to students. In the reappraisal of its identity, the university must also reflect further on its English-speaking specificity: professors and students complained that the knowledge of English as a teaching language was often insufficient, especially when students arrived from Turkey with very little understanding of the medium. In a year of preparatory courses, it proves difficult to bring that knowledge up to an academic level, especially when the students live daily in a Turkish-speaking environment. As a result, professors complain that 4-year curricula are often completed in 6 to 7 years, thus reducing the ‘efficiency’ and increasing the cost of teaching at EMU when compared to other institutions. Can EMU select better-trained students as far as English is concerned – a problem that does not apply to the Asian or African students who arrive in Famagusta with a higher fluency? Or should it move to English taught to empower students with the knowledge of terms that are used in the particular discipline of their interest? Or should it turn the preparatory year into a kind of studium
generale open to all kinds of general subjects that would help students open to a much wider understanding of their place in society? Or should remedial teaching be offered on a regular basis in order to help all students achieve expected results? Or might Turkish be used in remedial courses when specific learning outcomes need to be reached? All these questions were broached in the discussions the EUA team had about the use of a ‘foreign’ language at EMU, a language that should immediately give the university a strong international identity. The problem is linked to the student culture – another element that must be considered in the redefinition of EMU’s academic profile for the future. Students are active in the many clubs and activities that enrich the cultural life of a city: not an easy task considering that some of the non Turkish-speaking students, although they like the security and peace of Famagusta as a living place, also hoped, when they came, to arrive in a less ‘provincial’ city whose many young people would ‘colour’ daily life with more flamboyant happenings, both in work and leisure. The programme of general culture the university provides (the so-called Spike project) was heavily criticised for its irrelevance for undergraduates – especially considering that it called for compulsory attendance, sometimes of conferences spoken in languages not understood by all students (like Turkish) or focused on topics of little interest for opening the minds of listeners to new ideas, also in ideological and political terms. This general education offer was better accepted at graduate level, however.
178
The EUA team considered that the revisited identity of EMU would thus call for a change of culture among students so that they accept playing a part in academic politics in the various committees now opened to them. The passivity that was normal as long as their representation was symbolic should now be replaced by a much more pro-active attitude that also supposes better preparation and information on the potential of choices to be made for the university. That implies a reorganisation of EMU along the lines of ‘partnership’ rather than ‘consumption’; this means a new student culture based on feed-back and communication with the colleagues represented. Such a change of culture would also be in the interest of other interlocutors in the university, the unions in particular. For all university members, the challenge of specificity is by no means a small one and meeting it might certainly help EMU to open up new lines of action that could make it a necessary partner not only in Famagusta but also in Cyprus as a whole not to speak of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Turkey.
Capacity for change
The constraints mentioned in the first part of this report are being met or taken advantage of not only by the various policies the university leadership has been advocating over the last three years but also by the many initiatives taken in Faculties or Schools by staff and students, both at individual and collective level. The EUA team visited a vibrant institution although, sometimes, the actions taken were not cross-fertilising each other or converging towards a single goal for lack of communication or lack of confidence in the work, ideas and action of colleagues and partners. There is a culture of doubt about the real prospects of EMU -and recent salary cuts, although accepted by staff, certainly do not help the buoyancy of an institution where the precariousness of many positions does not encourage the feeling of being part of a unique venture that is worth the effort. This is very much linked to the ‘poverty’ of an institution that, basically, relies on its students’ fees. However the EUA visitors also encountered many staff committed to the development of the institution – both in administration and among the teachers and researchers – even if the latter have a marginal place now supported by the institution with only 1% of the budget. Transformation work has begun in many areas. It needs to crystallise along a few common lines so that the institution becomes a true community of belonging.
The students: from passivity to commitment
EMU has just initiated two new moves encouraging student participation: the student forum and the
10% student representation in all decision-making bodies. This is still very new and cannot be evaluated yet. However, these measures, if used to encourage the learning of a culture of commitment to the institution, should help students build up trust in EMU, as their own institution.
The staff: from defensive to pro-active behaviour
EMU, from a mode of protection of different interests that divide rather than unite the institution, should move to a culture of partnership in which staff contribute not only comments but also proposals. Such a discussion cannot be avoided if the university is to become a community all its members feel part of. This implies tolerance of others (who are not to be categorised in ideological terms) so that transparency opens on the unexpected, thus reducing to a minimum the fears of many to lose the little they have acquired in a difficult situation, be it cultural, political or economic. The leadership should offer stable points of reference, some kind of framework that helps conversations converge remembering that a university is always more than the sum of its parts. Until now, most changes have been initiated through the aggregation of suggestions, coming from here and there, with a vision of EMU’s future so distant that it could look as unreal as many of the institution’s features –since isolation questions EMU’s reality. That is the true basis for mistrust among partners.
179
The international dimension, the Eastern Mediterranean one in particular, should then become the normal reference that gives meaning to varied proposals and helps prioritise them. Indeed, not everything can be done and criteria for the distribution of scarcity will need to be accepted so that solidarity grows among the Faculties and Schools that are all parts of the same venture. This could have consequences on the revisited profile of the institution considering, for example, the mismatch of student demand – very much centred on business administration and economics – with supply, where the strong fields of EMU are engineering and technology, also in terms of resources, equipment and facilities. Who should help whom in a world of scarcity, how and what for? These are some the questions that will need reflection if EMU is to move from a defensive to a pro-active behaviour with the staff being considered as the main ‘stakeholders’ of the university’s future.
The institution: becoming a community of belonging
Changes are in the offing since the university charter is reaching the last stages of its reappraisal. It seems that, on some key points, it will align obligations and responsibilities. The EUA team can only welcome, for instance, the budgetary devolution to the Deans, who will have real power to manage Faculty resources – including salaries that will vary in function of merit. However, this will work only on condition that deans are fully responsible to central leadership for the use of those monies, the rector representing the university as a whole – with its specific mission. Devolution should never lead to fiefdoms taking over the working margin that EMU should have as an institution. The EUA team heard a lot about the need for autonomy: as far as it is concerned, and as shown in most European universities, institutional autonomy encompasses and makes sense of the initiatives taken at faculty or school level. It is never the result of those initiatives. Were it so, the institution would become a simple confederation of power brokers led by a weak rector with a representative function only. Everywhere in the European Higher Education Area rectors tend to have more and more responsibilities for the on-going development of their institution – especially if they have to report to the authorities that are providing taxpayers’ money, either directly through the Ministry or, indirectly, through a Board of Trustees that supervises the long term strategies of the university and validates its financial practices vis-à-vis the government as the ultimate paymaster.
However, if the EUA team has been well informed, it would feel most disturbed in terms of EMU’s
capacity for change if the Board of Trustees of the older law were now to be supported by an Advisory Committee of some 30 people, not to speak of an Inspectorate and a Secretariat to co-ordinate these various bodies. As long as the government of the Board does not have the funds to justify its power, there is no reason to multiply the seats with the sole consequence of offering enough places for representatives from all pressure groups in the organisation. This is probably the best way to paralyse the system a little further even if the Board might be encouraged to delegate its powers, especially those with an executive dimension, to the Rector. This is supposed to rehabilitate the position of the university leader. Like in industry, the rector should be the highest executive officer, however, and, as such, he should report to the shareholders, the ‘owners’ of the firm – which is in some way the role of the Board as the directing group of the State Foundation ‘owning’ EMU.
The whole exercise involving EUA has been part of the strategy of presence started with the 2004 referendum. The rector saw the period of his mandate – that ends in 2009 – as the window of
opportunity to transform EMU into a real academic player in the Eastern Mediterranean, a way out its isolation. At the time of this final report of the evaluation of EMU, there are still two years to go. This could explain the renewal of the leadership group in February 2007, an opportunity to increase the number of Vice-rectors and tighten their portfolio of responsibilities. The danger, of course, is to speed up changes that could prove
180
artificial if the rank and file is not brought on board. Expectations have been high, but so has disappointment. This change of personnel should be more than a last-ditch attempt at turning around a difficult situation. Well managed – with people fully dedicated to the success of EMU as an institution like those the EUA visitors met -this new effort should prove the right one to fulfil the great potential of EMU as a full academic provider.
Recommendations
Below are some suggestions for change derived from the EUA analysis that has also informed EMU reflections in the drafting of the self-evaluation report. These remarks could help the institution to focus and use its talents and past successes as effectively as possible – even in a transformed structural set-up -as analysed in the preceding pages.
Making the most of its academic assets, present and potential, EMU should revisit its identity and defend its unique profile of activities at all levels of academic recognition – thus obtaining its political autonomy from its various mentors, present or future, despite scarce human and financial resources. This means reinforcing its role as a student-centred institution consciously caring for the quality of
academic activities enlightened by scholarship as much as by research and innovation. Europe as a benchmark should remain the reference of a common venture in institutional development that leads to setting up for North Cyprus a truly international university with English as a medium of learning and communication.
A. The university’s mission and vision
EMU’s self-evaluation report puts its vision in a nutshell: ‘Aiming for the Peak of Quality’, a motto that, for the institution, means reaching the highest European and international standards of excellence in learning, teaching and research. This is a common goal in many universities around the world, however. This mission needs to be revisited in view of EMU’s present isolation, especially by redefining the ‘bridge’ role it would like to play in the Eastern Mediterranean. Practically, in the complex environment typical of the region, it would help decision-making if the ‘vision’ were discussed in a document other than the ‘mission statement’. The latter should set out EMU’s role and the allegiances this implies for the institution vis-à-vis its present and potential supporters, on the island and in the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean. Then, this mission statement can become the framework for the mission statements of individual faculties and institutes that will reflect the specific character of individual subunits, while keeping within the framework of EMU’s new circumstances.
B. The university’s strategic plan
The translation of a modern university vision and mission into activities such as teaching and research is commonly articulated in a strategic development plan. EMU did not present the EUA team with such a specific document. The many objectives of the institution were spread over the Self Evaluation Report but with no sense of prioritisation. The review team understands that the drafting by EMU of a strategic plan is nearing completion: it is recommended that the criteria and tools for the selection of possible activities be made explicit so that this document is of use as a management tool for university development.
Thus discussion should start on a university-wide basis to agree on a few basic, carefully chosen
priorities and attainable goals which should then develop into a detailed and realistic financial plan
with concrete sums allocated to each project. As in the case of the mission statement, the university strategic documents should become the framework for strategic plans elaborated by the faculties.
181
To allow for institutional cohesion, it is recommended that some cross-university projects involving all the faculties, schools and institutes be put in place. Supported by central grants from a university stimulation fund, such transversal projects should be supervised by EMU as a whole. One such programme could be the systematic introduction of curricula that are comparable and compatible
with those used in the European Higher Education Area. This would mean that EMU move away from the US credit system now prevailing in the university or at least make it compatible with the European credit transfer and accumulation system (ECTS). A second project could be the elaboration
of a comprehensive quality assurance and enhancement system for the whole university, so that the many and varied quality efforts made by staff and students in different contexts are encompassed in a common structure that would learn from the lessons of different experiences and methods in order to offer the university a transparent hierarchy of quality modalities for all to use.
C. The Bologna process and study programmes
Curricular reform has been mentioned in several units as a way to reduce the professors’ teaching load as well as the students’ workload by increasing the relevance of the learning process – more time for student self-study -thus creating a much more student-centred university. The Bologna process represents an opportunity to encourage such a transformation throughout the institution. This is also possible at EMU, as there is never ‘exclusion from the Bologna process’ and each institution is free to adopt and adapt the Bologna recommendations to its own activities. In North Cyprus, however, the 2005 Statute for HE indicates in its Chapter 5 that the duties of higher education institutions include harmonisation with the European Higher Education Area due for 2010 in accordance with the Bologna Process, thus making the arrangements that can lead to such an harmonisation a priority. EMU would like this commitment to be recognised by a Bologna charter. Yet, it can already happen, for instance, in the validation of its programmes, by taking as a basis the ECTS norm of 30 credits per semester or 60
per academic year, a norm based on workload rather than contact hours. Indeed, EMU should reduce
the number of contact hours for teaching, thus lowering the student workload and also creating some ‘free space’ for the teachers, time to be dedicated, for instance, to research activities. This implies that, should EMU wish to be competitive in the future EHEA, its educational philosophy must change. It is thus recommended that EMU increase its focus on learning while reducing its teaching: this implies great attention being given to the definition of the learning processes leading to specific learning
outcomes of possible interest for future employers.
In the interests of transparency, the Diploma supplement already mentioned in the 1999 ministerial declaration should become routine procedure at EMU as soon as possible, all the more so as it is an important element for participating in the European Higher Education Area. The development of interdisciplinary programmes between faculties must go beyond the mere sharing of electives – much too marginal a cooperation. The Bologna process offers universities new opportunities to further genuine inter-faculty collaboration by developing new interdisciplinary Masters programmes, a chance for building a community of belonging that EMU should not forego. Bologna also stresses the importance of distance education and e-learning: using such tools for training could alleviate EMU’s problems with the rapid increase of student numbers it has witnessed over the last few years. Such a policy could and should play a key role in developing a lifelong learning culture at EMU and in the region.
D. Research
Considering EMU’s limited resources to face the challenge of globalisation or to meet the needs of the Lisbon objectives on the development of a vibrant society of knowledge in Europe, the review team considers it to be especially important for EMU to develop a
182
university-wide research policy. Research objectives should be part of the university strategic plan, thus defining the areas where research efforts should be concentrated. This would mean a clear set of priorities that should also take into account the modalities by which research cross-fertilises the
educational process.
Such priorities should be based on EMU’s own expertise, criteria and needs. The university can count on many distinguished professors who have gained experience abroad at top quality institutions and publish in high-level international journals. EMU should help develop synergies between the members of that pool of experts by fostering collaboration between different departments in order to engineer a critical mass in research focused on priority areas, whose strength could be reinforced by targeted
recruitment of new research collaborators with the support of central administration in so far as these priorities underline the specificity of the institution’s profile of activities.
The project of performance-based rewards -a policy that should not affect research workers only -should be revitalised and implemented across the University. Indeed, in terms of resources for research, EMU does not live up to its expectations when it allocates to R&D 1% of the yearly fees (or 0,6% of its total budget). On a small budget, this is already a sign of commitment. However, the University should take a more active role in acquiring research funds from abroad. For instance, it could ask for European support through the 7th Framework Programme since, to quote an official document of the EU, ‘researchers and organisations from countries other than Member States, candidate countries, or
associated states may also participate in projects on a case-by-case basis’. To help researchers to prepare their projects technically, it is recommended that the EMU leadership widen the scope of the
existing 7th
Framework Project Development Office to all types of research, thus turning it into some kind of Centre for International Projects.
The creation of a Research Newsletter to spread information fast throughout EMU is a welcome operation. It could be completed by a small series of specialised research journals that could be published regularly with contributions from most Faculties with external reviewers validating all publications.
The review team believes that supporting young researchers is an essential tool to renew the blood of the university through high quality young people the University can benefit from. EMU’s proportion of PhD students (1,6% of all of its students) is however well below one that could offer a critical mass for long-term action. A scheme of seed money for research exists at EMU but it targets the teaching staff only. The review team recommends improving the University’s research support scheme by extending
it to young researchers especially, for instance by setting up a university internal research grant system.
E. Financing and revenue streams Since public authorities are not investing in EMU as a state institution, although it is the oldest and biggest university in Cyprus, the university should count on income brought in by extension and fund-raising activities. Neither the self-evaluation report, nor required additional documents have provided the EUA visitors with a plan showing how to control a situation of virtual bankruptcy – even if the government would never let down EMU as an institution. To live under the pressure of constant deficit is de-motivating, to say the least. The hope for state subsidies is not very helpful. The EUA team would thus recommend that EMU elaborates a financial crisis plan envisaging the measures to avoid too risky a situation.
Since the Rectorate collects all tuition fees, an agreed system should operate across the University as a whole. It should determine the percentage both the faculty and the common university budgets
should receive from earned income. Set rules could stimulate Faculties to be more active in the search for money or for the efficiency of its use. The system
183
should also apply to continuing education, distance learning, e-learning or any paid activities that the faculties are performing as extension work.
According to the Statute for Higher Education, No. 65/2005, Chapter 9, some encouragement is provided by the State to facilitate outside investment in universities (exemption from taxes, stamps, fees or duties). This should create a welcome space for donations from outside the university. It is recommended that the university leadership not only launch a country-wide campaign to raise funds from people and firms in North Cyprus but also to contact its alumni (especially in Turkey), using the EMU Alumni centres that have been already set up in those countries interested in sending students to EMU.
As good research can also bring contract money and grants, the University should considerably increase its efforts in the field of project activities in order to obtain additional means, particularly from European resources.
The EUA team wonders whether EMU, as a former Higher Technological Institute, has developed a policy for the protection of intellectual property rights and if it monitors the patents university results may lead to and how it protects such intellectual property. But this may seem secondary compared to the needs the system has to meet. Scarcity represents a heavy external constraint. This could be soon be a thing of the past if the State were to pay the compensation it is supposed to in order to subsidise the study fees of Northern Cypriots. Any delay in this payment puts EMU under constant pressure, a dire fact if one remembers that any institution is as autonomous and free as its financial autonomy and
financial freedom.
F. University governance and the role of students
According to the 2005 Statute for Higher education, Chapter 2, ‘academic freedom and institutional
autonomy have the highest priority’.
The EUA team wonders how this fits with the role the Board of Trustees has taken over the last few years, reducing the competences of the rector and elected academic authorities to a shadow of influences by the constant interventions that are supposed to control the legality of financial management. In fact, such interventions equate to the micro-management of EMU by non-academics with little professional understanding of the institution. In other European countries this would amount to interference with the institution’s autonomy that is under the Rector’s responsibility. Indeed, the main role of a Board of Trustees is to ensure appropriate conditions for university development, in particular by raising funds, public and private. It is certainly not that of making up for the lack of these funds by controlling every penny of the money the university has earned mainly through fees and, in so doing, intruding into the everyday executive life of the University.
The role of students in University governance, according to the team’s views, does not match one of the main targets in the Bologna process: ‘students and staff should act as full partners in the
governance of higher education’. The review team understands that the participation of students in University decision-making bodies is being increased to some 10% -from a symbolic number, at present. However, to favour full participation and informed voting rights, the student culture in such
organs should move from passivity to commitment, throughout EMU, since all decisions affect students in a way or another. University politics are no simple game however. The leadership of EMU will have to inform students fully so that their new role becomes routine.
G. International relations
A crucial point of the Bologna declaration calls for the wide mobility of staff and students to encourage the European dimension of university education. The review team
184
noted that at EMU, as a result of political isolation, such activities are minimal (some visiting professors and the students coming and returning home excepted). Anyway, short conference trips cannot be compared with longer-term teaching, research or study activities abroad. Despite some embargo measures at the level of North Cyprus, the university would be well advised to have a strategic plan for international relations. This could mean revisiting the some 80 agreements EMU has signed with universities around the world, reviewing in particular their mobility clauses. Anyway, here too, EMU should give priority to European relations in order to end its partial isolation, for instance by using the network of the some 700 universities that are members of EUA. The accession of Cyprus – as a whole -to the European Union, means the possibility of indirect participation in EU activities, at least at individual level.
H. Accreditation and Quality Assurance
The current quality assurance system is primarily based on the external evaluation and accreditation of programmes by YÖDAK, the North Cypriot Higher Education Council. EMU has had a strong interest in quality enhancement over the last few years and has started various processes leading to internal quality assessment. As a framework encompassing these many activities, the review team would recommend that EMU leadership adopt the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the
European Higher Education Area, that, as a Bologna requirement, are an attempt to achieve the correct balance between external and internal quality assurance.
As said earlier, such a framework approach could become a transversal project for EMU as a whole, thus becoming a key point of the strategic plan. The review team would recommend that the quality
assurance and quality enhancement system be primarily focussed on teaching, research and university administration.
Although EMU has an elaborated and anonymous evaluation system of teachers by students available through modern electronic means, the EUA team understand that its results are rarely used for management decisions or for quality development. Such efforts are meaningless, however, if they remain at the level of data gathering. They must lead to action, transparency and proper feedback to the
students.
Capacity for change and constraints: concluding remarks
Considering the heavy constraints analysed in the first part of the report (small size of the supporting community, isolation, heavy dependence on fees and on Turkey, etc.), EMU’s existence could be at risk. To face such dangers, the university needs to adapt and change.
Rector Güven seized the opportunity of political change to launch an ambitious revival process for the university. Political vagaries, however, slowed down the transformation and undermined the motivation for change. Anyway, implementation of change is usually the most difficult part of any revitalisation process in any type of institution. It is definitely easier when the members of the institution accept change as normal development.
Therefore, the importance of optimal internal communication cannot be overemphasised. Change cannot be imposed from above, although sufficient control must be maintained so as to guide the process. Indeed, any university is more than the sum of its parts. This requires a good two-way
communication accompanied by thorough consultation and constant feedback from all partners in order have clear reporting of achievements. In other words, generally accepted and agreed processes or rules must operate in a trusting, clear, frank and transparent way if disillusionment is to be avoided or, at least, minimised. This
185
interactive process nurtures the sense of belonging the university must achieve as a community if it is to survive all kinds of difficulties.
Over recent years, the Eastern Mediterranean University has proved it can adapt to new challenges in the fields of teaching, learning and research. The review team congratulates the University on its students. We met dozens of them and all were proud of their university, several having chosen EMU for its recognised quality. From this point of view the review team believes that the University has a good future.
From the review process, the EUA team is confident that the University could successfully meet the challenges it is now facing despite a constantly changing environment. Thus EMU´s efforts to
internationalise the university, to participate fully in the European Higher Education Area, the
Erasmus and 7th
Framework programmes while obtaining international funding, should be
commended. The process is on-going, with all its ups and downs. To make it sustainable, however, the institution must distance itself from shortsighted problems and initiatives. To do so, EMU can keep to the goal defined by its present rector: ‘to become the star institution of the Eastern Mediterranean region, a knowledge centre whose light will be seen in Europe and internationally’. Although ambitious, these words can motivate the institution to prove its ‘passion for quality’, thus justifying a growing optimism despite formidable constraints. The latter could be alleviated – in Cyprus or beyond – when universities, for the sake of their students, do not become the pawns of international politics or the hostages of internal dissensions. Thus their autonomy and the freedom to enquire of their members, staff and students can be secured. Thus can they also become true partners in the development of their community, be it small, like in North Cyprus, or much larger, like the Eastern Mediterranean region, both areas being complementary dimensions for the possible scope of EMU’s contribution to the peace and wealth of the region, a reality that transcends the old and new walls of Famagusta.
186
187
APPENDIX B
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET AND CONSENT FORM
Participant Information Sheet
Research Project Title: “Implementing a Constructivist Approach into Online Course Designs
in Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University”.
Introduction: This research aims to create awareness of decision making process based on team work and
investigate the role of course design in developing critical thinking skills of the online students in
Distance Education Institute Program and Courses. This can be achieved through the following
objectives:
To create the awareness of the Distance Education Institute members on decision
making process based on team work
To create awareness of team work inspiration and the significant of the constructivist
approach in online education by the training
To integrate constructivist approach into online course designs for developing critical
thinking skills of online students
To contribute organizational change in terms of the instructional design within distance
education
Information about Participants’ Involvement in the Study Participants accepting the invitation to take part in this research study will be involved in
training, in-depth interviews, semi-structured interviews, focus groups as data collection methods
with their permission. The gathered data will be treated strictly. During the research process,
researcher keeps research diary in order to be reflect every step of action implementation as
insider researcher.
Benefits This research project provides an action plan for the university that provides an insight into team
work inspiration in decision making process for distance education practices. It grants
organizational change to adapt new paradigm and approach in course designs based on
constructivist approach in developing critical thinking skills of students. In other words, it may
enable them to change the atmosphere of online instruction.
Risks
No serious risks to participants are anticipated. As mentioned above, all measure will be taken to
assure confidentially and privacy. Participants may voluntarily withdraw from the study if they
choose to do so.
Confidentiality Data gathered in this study will be kept confidential. All the data will be stored in my residence.
No participant shall be mentioned by name in any written or oral presentation of the findings.
Pseudonyms will be used. If there is information that participant prefer to keep in confidence or
information that might jeopardize confidentially, that information will be deleted from the data
analysis.
Contact Information
If you have questions at any time about the study or the procedures, you may contact the worker
researcher, Zehra Altinay at 0533 8400382 or [email protected].
188
Participant Consent Form
Research Project Title: “Implementing a Constructivist Approach into Online Course Designs
in Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University”.
Researcher’s Name: Zehra Altinay
• I have read the Participant Information Sheet and the nature and purpose of the research
project has been explained to me. I understand and agree to take part in research.
• I understand the purpose of the research project and my involvement in it.
• I understand that I may withdraw from the research project at any stage and that this will
not affect my status now or in the future.
• I understand that while information gained during the study may be published, I will not
be identified and my personal results will remain confidential.
• I understand that data will be stored at the researcher’s residence.
• I understand that I may contact the researcher if I require further information about the
research, if I wish to make a complaint relating to my involvement in the research.
Signed ………………………………………………..(research participant)
Print name …………………………………………... Date ……………………
189
APPENDIX C
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Focus: Exploring the Team Inspiration of the Institute for Collaborative Decision Making
Process in relation to Course Designs
1. What is your position in the Distance Education Institute?
2. How long have you been a member of Distance Education Institute?
3. Could you tell me about institutional activities for continuous quality improvement
within institute?
4. Do members sufficiently become together to decide what assessments and interventions
are needed for learner focused education regarding to online course designs? How?
5. How could you define team work?
6. Could you describe team work activities in your institute?
7. What do you think about the role of team work in designing courses?
8. Could you describe decision making process in designing online courses?
9. What do you think about the advantages of being in team work in designing online
courses?
190
APPENDIX D
TRAININGS
TRAINING I: TEAMWORK
Step 1: What is team work?
“a group of individuals working together in which the success of any individual is dependent on
the success of the entire group” (Lanza, 1985).
“collections of people who must rely on group collaboration if each member is to experience the
optimum sense of success and goal achievement (Badu, 2002).
Teams need to learn how to develop knowledge, share information, and build on each other’s
knowledge to create new knowledge and new models, rather than simply adapt the models
already existing (Yeh et al., 2006).
Step 2: How do members work together in decision making process for course designs?
Team is an important means in organizational change and continuous improvement within
innovation activities. It provides organizational performance through involvement, learning,
interaction (Castka et al., 2003).
Knowledge sharing among team members has been found to be a prerequisite for successful
collaborative teamwork (Leinonen and Bluemink, 2008).
As there are many types of teams, and Huszczo (1990) describes some of them that are:
• committees
• task forces
• quality circles employee-participation
• groups
• joint union-management
• leadership teams
• action committee
• project teams
• supervisory council and
• autonomous or self-directed work teams
In respect to team working in higher education program development, project teams are the
popular to change and develop the program designs based on collaboration and committed
decision making process. Teams need to cover these components: inter-team, team member
strengths and skills, communication, roles and interdependence, clarity of team goals, decision-
making and leadership, organizational support. In relation to these components, team members
maintain their distinguished roles within the work groups and one of the members can take dual
role as trainer and the mentor within the project teams.
Team members need to know the following dimensions of the team work to implement in their
project teams based on the awareness of team work culture. These dimensions and their
distinctive features also provide group and self-evaluation to explore team inspiration within
institute and thereby understand the necessity of project teams for change and development.
191
Team Work Dimensions:
A. Customer and Inter-team Issues
1. Examining clients’ satisfaction
2. Developing services without any advice from people outside of the team.
3. Working hard to maintain constructive relationships with other teams involved with clients.
4. Allowing clients to decide what assessments and interventions are needed.
5. Getting to know the people working on other teams even those within our organization.
B. Roles and Interdependence
1. Sharing knowledge and skills easily.
2. Developing care-plans independent of everyone else
3. Understanding one another’s roles
4. Coordinating efforts
5. Collaborating rather than competing with each other
C. Communication and Conflict Management
1. Listening each other within the team
2. When conflicts arise team members negotiate solutions easily
D. Team Member Skills
1. Knowing how to get things done in this team
2. Knowing how to run a meeting efficiently
3. Training in technical discipline
4. Adjusting to change within team
E. Clarity of Team Goals
1. Defining clear goals, objectives
2. Planning for future
3. Changing priorities on team
4. Understanding the goal of continuous quality improvement
5. Examining what the team do, how it works and how to improve it
6. Having clear agenda on team meetings
F. Decisions authority and accountability
1. Making good decisions in difficult situations
2. Understanding how the team makes the decisions it does
3. Having unclear authority within team
G. Support from Organisation
1. Getting resources that are needed
2. Considering workloads
3. Appreciation of work by leader
References
Castka, P, Sharp, M, J, & Bamber, C, J, 2003, ‘Assessing team development to improve
organizational performance’, Measuring Business Excellence, 7, 4, pp 29-36.
Leinonen, P, & Bluemink, J, 2008, ‘The distributed team members' explanations of knowledge
they assume to be shared’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 20, 1, pp 38-53.
192
TRAINING II: HOW TO PREPARE AND DESIGN ONLINE COURSE BASED ON
CONSTRUCTIVIST APPRACH
A. What is Constructivism?
Constructivism is a theory of learning that has roots in both philosophy and psychology. The
essential core of constructivism is that learners actively construct their own knowledge and
meaning from their experiences (Steffe and Gale, 1995; Fosnot, 1996).
1. Knowledge is not passively accumulated, but rather, is the result of active cognizing by the
individual
2. Cognition is an adaptive process that functions to make an individual's behavior more viable
given a particular environment
3. Cognition organizes and makes sense of one's experience, and is not a process to
render an accurate representation of reality and
4. Knowing has roots in both biological/neurological construction, and social, cultural, and
language based interactions
Constructivism is not a solitary theory but rather a perspective that exists along a continuum with
three broad categories: cognitive constructivism, social constructivism and radical constructivism
(Doolittle, 1997). Cognitive constructivism focuses on the construction of knowledge with
information processing and the learner playing a central role (Clark, 1999). Social constructivism
views all knowledge as socially constructed through interactions with other individuals and the
environment and maintains an emphasis on language use (Kim, 2001). Radical constructivism
posits that the individual constructs knowledge based on his or her own experiences and may not
be a true representation of external reality as all experiences are subjective (vonGlasersfeld,
1995). Although these categories of constructivism have significant differences, they share the
basic premise of constructivism: learners actively construct knowledge and meaning from their
experiences.
This position is exemplified by Bakhtin (1984), "truth is not to be found inside the head of an
individual person, it is born between people collectively searching for truth, in the process of
their dialogic interaction".
193
Curriculum begins with the parts of the
whole. Emphasizes basic skills.
Curriculum emphasizes big concepts,
beginning with the whole and expanding to
include the parts.
Strict adherence to fixed curriculum is
highly valued.
Pursuit of student questions and interests is
valued.
Materials are primarily textbooks and
workbooks.
Materials include primary sources of
material and manipulative materials.
Learning is based on repetition. Learning is interactive, building on what the
student already knows.
Teachers disseminate information to
students, students are recipients of
knowledge.
Teachers have a dialogue with students,
helping students construct their own
knowledge.
Teacher's role is directive, rooted in
authority.
Teacher's role is interactive, rooted in
negotiation.
Assessment is through testing, correct
answers.
Assessment includes student works,
observations, and points of view, as well as
tests. Process is as important as product.
Knowledge is seen as inert. Knowledge is seen as dynamic, ever
changing with our experiences.
Students work primarily alone. Students work primarily in groups.
B. What are the benefits of constructivism?
. Benefit
Students learn more, and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved, rather than
passive listeners.
. Benefit
Education works best when it concentrates on thinking and understanding, rather than on rote
memorization. Constructivism concentrates on learning how to think and understand.
. Benefit
Constructivist learning is transferable. In constructivist online classrooms, students create
organizing principles that they can take with them to other learning settings.
194
. Benefit
Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn, since learning is based on students'
questions and explorations, and often the students have a hand in designing the assessments as
well. Constructivist assessment engages the students' initiatives and personal investments in their
journals, research reports, physical models, and artistic representations. Engaging the creative
instincts develops students' abilities to express knowledge through a variety of ways. The
students are also more likely to retain and transfer the new knowledge to real life.
. Benefit
By grounding learning activities in an authentic, real-world context, constructivism stimulates
and engages students. Students in constructivist classrooms learn to question things and to apply
their natural curiosity to the world.
. Benefit
Constructivism promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment
that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. Students must learn how to articulate their
ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing in group projects. Students
must therefore exchange ideas and so must learn to "negotiate" with others and to evaluate their
contributions in a socially acceptable manner. This is essential to success in the real world, since
they will always be exposed to a variety of experiences in which they will have to cooperate and
navigate among the ideas of others.
C. Constructivist Pedagogy- Set of core design principles
1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior
knowledge.
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and selfaware.
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of
content.
D. How does constructivist based online course design operate?
In relation to above core design principles, there is intensified need to consider following tools
and functions.
1. Virtual reality
2. Email, discussions, teleconferencing
3. Relevant topic, skill, process
4. Self-check
5. Adult learners, self-discipline (orientation to online education)
6. Direct instruction
7. Diverse work, topic helps to gain multiple perspectives.
Suggested Material: Developing portfolio
195
Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them
gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist
classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep
learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn HOW TO LEARN.
You might look at it as a spiral. When they continuously reflect on their experiences, students
find their ideas gaining in complexity and power, and they develop increasingly strong abilities to
integrate new information. One of the teacher's main roles becomes to encourage this learning
and reflection process.
E. Constructivist learning intervention
1. The nature of the learner
a. The learner as a unique individual
Social constructivism views each learner as a unique individual with unique needs and
backgrounds. The learner is also seen as complex and multidimensional. Social constructivism
not only acknowledges the uniqueness and complexity of the learner, but actually encourages,
utilizes and rewards it as an integral part of the learning process (Wertsch, 1997).
b. The importance of the background and culture of the learner
Social constructivism encourages the learner to arrive at his or her own version of the truth,
influenced by his or her background, culture or embedded worldview. From the social
constructivist viewpoint, it is thus important to take into account the background and culture of
the learner throughout the learning process, as this background also helps to shape the knowledge
and truth that the learner creates, discovers and attains in the learning process (Wertsch,1997).
c. The responsibility for learning
Furthermore, it is argued that the responsibility of learning should reside increasingly with the
learner (Von Glasersfeld, 1989). Social constructivism thus emphasizes the importance of the
learner being actively involved in the learning process, unlike previous educational viewpoints
where the responsibility rested with the instructor to teach and where the learner played a passive,
receptive role. Von Glasersfeld (1989) emphasizes that learners construct their own
understanding and that they do not simply mirror and reflect what they read.
d. The motivation for learning
According to Von Glasersfeld (1989), sustaining motivation to learn is strongly dependent on the
learner’s confidence in his or her potential for learning. These feelings of competence and belief
in potential to solve new problems, are derived from first-hand experience of mastery of
problems in the past and are much more powerful than any external acknowledgment and
motivation (Prawat and Floden 1994).
2. The role of the instructor
Instructors as facilitators
According to the social constructivist approach, instructors have to adapt to the role of facilitators
and not teachers (Bauersfeld, 1995). The learning environment should also be designed to support
and challenge the learner's thinking (Di Vesta, 1987).
196
3. Nature of learning process
a. Learning is an active, social process
Social constructivist scholars view learning as an active process where learners should learn to
discover principles, concepts and facts for themselves, hence the importance of encouraging
guesswork and intuitive thinking in learners (Brown et al.,1989; Ackerman 1996).
b. Dynamic interaction between task, instructor and learner
A further characteristic of the role of the facilitator in the social constructivist viewpoint, is that
the instructor and the learners are equally involved in learning from each other as well (Holt and
Willard-Holt 2000). This means that the learning experience is both subjective and objective and
requires that the instructor’s culture, values and background become an essential part of the
interplay between learners and tasks in the shaping of meaning.
c. Collaboration among learners
Learners with different skills and backgrounds should collaborate in tasks and discussions in
order to arrive at a shared understanding of the truth in a specific field (Duffy and Jonassen
1992).
Most social constructivist models, such as that proposed by Duffy and Jonassen (1992), also
stress the need for collaboration among learners, in direct contradiction to traditional competitive
approaches.
d. The importance of context
The social constructivist paradigm views the context in which the learning occurs as central to the
learning itself (McMahon, 1997).
e. Assessment
Holt and Willard-Holt (2000) emphasize the concept of dynamic assessment, which is a way of
assessing the true potential of learners that differs significantly from conventional tests. Here the
essentially interactive nature of learning is extended to the process of assessment. Rather than
viewing assessment as a process carried out by one person, such as an instructor, it is seen as a
two-way process involving interaction between both instructor and learner.
4. The selection, scope and sequencing of the subject matter
a. Knowledge should be discovered as an integrated whole
Knowledge should not be divided into different subjects or compartments, but should be
discovered as an integrated whole (Di Vesta, 1987; McMahon, 1997).
This also again underlines the importance of the context in which learning is presented (Brown et
al., 1989). The world, in which the learner needs to operate, does not approach one in the form of
different subjects, but as a complex myriad of facts, problems, dimensions and perceptions
(Ackerman, 1996).
197
b. Engaging and challenging the learner
Learners should constantly be challenged with tasks that refer to skills and knowledge just
beyond their current level of mastery. This will capture their motivation and build on previous
successes in order to enhance the confidence of the learner (Brownstein, 2001).
c. The structuredness of the learning process
It is important to achieve the right balance between the degree of structure and flexibility that is
built into the learning process. Savery (1994) contends that the more structured the learning
environment, the harder it is for the learners to construct meaning based on their conceptual
understandings. A facilitator should structure the learning experience just enough to make sure
that the students get clear guidance and parameters within which to achieve the learning
objectives, yet the learning experience should be open and free enough to allow for the learners to
discover, enjoy, interact and arrive at their own, socially verified version of truth.
Summary
Constructivism and Online Education (Doolittle, 1999)
Constructivism posits that knowledge acquisition occurs amid four assumptions:
1. Learning involves active cognitive processing.
2. Learning is adaptive.
3. Learning is subjective, not objective.
4. Learning involves both social/cultural and individual processes.
These four assumptions have led, indirectly, to eight primary pedagogical recommendations:
1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior
knowledge.
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware.
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors.
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of
content.
The question then arises, can an online medium support this pedagogy that is based on the
constructivist assumptions. Below, each of the eight pedagogical statements is briefly addressed
based on this question and a “grade” is given to reflect online education’s ability to meet or
implement these statements.
1. Learning should take place in authentic and real-world environments.
If authenticity were examined as an either/or proposition, then online education would fail
miserably, however, authenticity is more a matter of degree than constitution. From this
perspective, online education is potentially quite effective in providing virtual environments in
which one can simulate real-world events. In order for online education to adequately satisfy this
pedagogical statement the online environment must provide complex, culturally relevant, ill-
structured domains within which the user can operate and “live.” The use of virtual reality,
simulators, and microworlds has focused on this concept. (Grade: A)
2. Learning should involve social negotiation and mediation.
Online education provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in social negotiation and
mediation, unfortunately, until recently, social negotiation and mediation were constrained in the
online medium. The use of both asynchronous (e.g., email, threaded discussions, listservs) and
synchronous (e.g., MOOs, MUDs, IRCs, video teleconferencing) online communications allows
for social negotiation and mediation to occur across both time and distance. (Grade: A)
198
3. Content and skills should be made relevant to the learner.
Online education is capable of making vast amounts of very diverse information, knowledge, and
skills available to the learner. In this sense, online education is quite capable of providing
relevance as long as the learner is able to self-select a relevant topic, process, or skill. Where
online education may have difficulty is in spontaneously adapting instruction to a change in
student perspective. In a face-to-face meeting, when a student asks a question such as “How does
this concept relate to my interest?” the teacher is able to adjusting the next response to the clearly
fit the student’s query, however, most online education interfaces are not flexible enough to
handle this type of tailoring. This type of immediate tailoring is more available through
synchronous than asynchronous environments. (Grade: B)
4. Content and skills should be understood within the framework of the learner’s prior
knowledge.
This pedagogical statement is perhaps the most difficult for online education to handle. To
address this statement requires a transaction to occur between the user and the online educational
environment. In a synchronous environment mediated by an instructor, student’s prior knowledge
may be probed at the beginning of instruction and instruction may then be adjusted based on the
feedback from the student, however, in an asynchronous environment, this type of probing and
responding is less fluid and flexible. (Grade: C)
5. Students should be assessed formatively, serving to inform future learning experiences.
While online environments are capable of frequently assessing students during instruction,
difficulty arises in using this formative assessment to guide further instruction. The reason for
assessing students formatively is to make adjustments to instruction that take into account the
student’s currently level of understanding. Instructors will often provide students with “self-
check” quizzes that assess students during various parts of instruction, however, the use of these
quizzes is usually marginal, providing feedback to students so that students have a better
understanding of their learning. Rarely is this knowledge used to alter subsequent instruction.
(Grade: C)
6. Students should be encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-
aware. In most online education environments, self-regulation, self-mediation, and self-awareness are
requirements for successfully engaging in that environment. Online education typically requires
students to be more involved and more persistent relative to the educational environment. One
aspect of online education that is currently lacking is educating the student in the processes
necessary to successfully engage in online education. Students often begin an online educational
experience with no instruction concerning how online education differs from tradition classroom
education. This pedagogical statement is attainable, but is currently not being addressed
adequately. (Grade: C).
7. Teachers serve primarily as guides and facilitators of learning, not instructors. While it is
still possible for instructors to lecture and to use direct instruction during an online educational
experience, it is not nearly as easy as it is when one is teaching in a classroom. As a result, one is
likely to find less “instructing” and more guiding and facilitating in online education. In addition,
online education can be effectively constructed to emphasize a facilitating role for instructors
while students engage in simulations, web-based data collection, and ill-structured problem
solving. The self-regulatory and self-mediated nature of online education promotes the instructor
taking the role of guide or coach. (Grade: A)
8. Teachers should provide for and encourage multiple perspectives and representations of
content.
Online education, especially with a diverse group of students, is ripe for the presentation and
experience of multiple perspectives. Online education has easy access to international and
culturally diverse resources, including diverse populations. With the passing of time, a greater
amount of diverse articles (published and pre-published) and presentations are accessible online,
providing students with the resources for multiple perspectives.
(Grade: A)
199
References
Ausburn, L, J, 2004, ‘Design components most valued by adult learners in blended online
education environments: an American perspective’, Educational Media International, 41, 4, pp
327-37.
Duffy, T, M, & Jonassen, D, H, 1991, ‘Constructivism: new implications for instruction
technology’, Educational Technology, pp 7-12.
Edward, N, S, 2001, ‘Evaluation of a constructivist approach to student induction in relation to
students’ learning styles’, EUR. J. ENG. ED, 26, 4, pp 429–40.
Elbaum, B, Mclntyre, C, & Smith, A, 2002, Essential elements: Prepare, design, and teach your
online course, Madison: Atwood publishing.
Salmon, G, 2002, E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online, London: Kogan Page.
200
APPENDIX E
FEEDBACK FORMS
The form aims to receive your evaluation and reflection on the trainings within action research
process.
A. Training I: Team work and decision making process for the course designs
1. Could you provide your reflection and evaluation about the contributions of training on team
work and decision making process for course designs?
2. Is there new knowledge for you in the training?
3. What you have learnt from the training?
4. How training provided insight to teamwork skills?
5. How training supports your knowledge in designing online course through teamwork?
201
B. Training II: Providing awareness of constructivist approach based course design for online
tutors
1. Could you provide your reflection and evaluation about the contributions of training to you?
2. What do you think about the focus of the training?
3. Does training provide new knowledge to you? How?
4. How training provided insight to your online course design?
202
APPENDIX F
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Focus: Evaluating the Awareness of Online Tutors about Constructivist Approach
1. Which online course are you teaching?
2. Could you briefly explain online learning and teaching process of your course?
3. What strategies are you pursuing while designing your online course?
4. How could you define learner focused online course design?
5. Do you consider the cultural and individual differences of the students while designing your
online course? How?
6. How could you describe your role in learning process of the online students?
7. What components of your course design motivate students to learn better?
8. What kind of tools do you use to communicate with students?
9. What kind of learning activities are you promoting in your course?
10. Do you believe that students take the responsibility of their learning process? How?
11. Do students involved in collaborative works? How?
12. Do you believe that your course design proposes students to think, reflect and understand on
subjects, negotiate with others in order to transfer learning into real world experiences?
13. Do students engage with diverse projects or topics?
14. How do you asses students’ performance in your course?
203
APPENDIX G
CHECKLIST TO ANALYZE COURSE DESIGNS OF ONLINE TUTORS
BASED ON CRITERIA OF CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH
Criteria Course
Descriptions
Course Plans Course Web Designs
01 There is an orientation to present web
page.
02 Students become actively engaged in
their learning process.
03 Students acquire pre-requisite
knowledge on multimedia and design.
04 Students use web-based authoring
tools to develop projects.
05 Students collaborate in teams. 06 Teachers act as facilitator in learning
process.
07 Students use multimedia as a
constructivist learning tool.
08 There is the requirement of team work
and collaboration.
09 Students take their own responsibility. 10 This framework requires reflection. 11 Task based learning creates
environment for shared cognition.
12 Constructivist approach offers student
participation.
13 Collaborative study in the process and
product of collaboration supports skills
development.
14 Constructivist based learning
increases social interaction.
15 Individual characteristics such as
motivation, attitude, preparation,
learning style, gender of learners are
taken into account.
16 Learning is collaborative. 17 Learning is socially constructed. 18 Learning is active. 19 Learning process is goal free
evaluation.
20 Learning is based on problem solving
and experiential process.
21 Course design should fit to the
curriculum.
22 Course design is learner-focused. 23
Course is designed for small group
size.
24 Course design is situated to the culture. 25 Assessment requires process not
product.
26 Comments 27 Reflections
References
Elbaum, B, Mclntyre, C, & Smith, A, 2002, Essential elements: Prepare, design, and teach your
online course, Madison: Atwood publishing.
Salmon, G, 2002, E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online, London: Kogan Page.
204
APPENDIX H
GROUP INTERVIEWING (FOCUS GROUP) QUESTIONS
Focus: Adaptation Process
1. What helped or hindered you in implementing constructivist approach into course
design?
2. What do you think about initial impact of constructivist based course design on learning
and skills development of the students?
3. How do you describe the advantages of action learning process for your professional
growth?
205
APPENDIX I
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS QUESTIONS
Focus: Investigating the Changes on Teaching Philosophy of Tutors and Examining Skills
Development of Online Students
1. Do you believe that online learning environment has proposed authentic and real-world
experiences for students? How?
2. How did online learning environment provide opportunity for students to involve in social
negotiation and mediation?
3. Were students encouraged to become self-regulatory, self-mediated, and self-aware for
their learning process? How?
4. How could you define your role as constructivist teacher in learning and teaching process?
5. Do you believe that your course has been encouraged students to have multiple
perspectives with studying diverse topics? How?
6. Could you tell me the skills that students were gained through discussion with peers within
group works?
7. Do you believe that students were gained reflection, reasoning skills as a result of this
course? Why?
8. How did you asses the performance of the students?
9. Which components of the course design foster/limit skills development of the students?
10. Which skills of the students were developed by constructivist based course design?
11. Which skills of the students were limited by constructivist based course design?
206
APPENDIX J
SELF-REPORT BASED ON SCALING TO ONLINE STUDENTS IN
SETTING THEIR SKILLS
Management of Self (Personal Effectiveness) None Low Adequate High Comments
Manage time effectively
Set objectives, priorities and standards
Take responsibility for own learning
Use a range of academic skills
Develop and adapt learning strategies
Show intellectual flexibility
Use learning in new or different situations
Plan/work towards long-term goals
Purposefully reflect on own learning
Clarify with criticism constructively
Cope with stress
Management of Others (Team Work)
Carry out agreed tasks
Respect the views and values of others
Work productively in a cooperative context
Adapt to the needs of the group
Defend/justify views and actions
Take initiative and lead others
Delegate and stand back
Negotiate
Offer constructive criticism
Take the role of chairperson
Learn in a collaborative context
Assist/support others in learning
Management of Information (Includes Communication Skills)
Use appropriate sources of information
Use appropriate technologies
Use appropriate media
Handle large amounts of information
Use appropriate language and form
Present information competently
Respond to different purposes/contexts and audiences
Use information critically
Use information in innovative and creative way
Management of Task (Research management)
Identify key features
Conceptualize ideas
Set and maintain priorities
Identify strategic options
Plan/implement a course of action
Organize sub-tasks
Use and develop appropriate strategies
Assess outcomes
Reference: Bennett, N, Dunne, E. and Carre, C. (1999) Patterns of core and generic skill provision in higher education. Higher
Education, 37(1), 71-93.
207
APPENDIX K
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Focus: Investigating the Role of Constructivist Approach based Course Designs in Developing
Skills of Students
1. Which online course did you pursue for this semester?
2. What do you think about your online learning experience?
3. Could you compare the differences between traditional learning and online learning
processes?
4. Which components of the course design motivates you to learn better?
5. Did you find a link between the course content and real life experiences during the
course?
6. Could you describe your responsibilities as a student in your online course?
7. Could you also describe your tutor responsibilities in the online course?
8. Have you involved in studying diverse course contents during the course? How?
9. Which skills do you believe that your online course provides you to develop?
10. Which skills do you believe that your online course limits to develop?
11. How did your online course design foster your reflection, reasoning skills?
12. How was your performance assessed during your online learning process?
208
APPENDIX L
FEEDBACK FORM ABOUT PROJECT EVALUATION
“Evaluation on Efficiency of Research Project”
Research Title: Implementing Constructivist Approach into Online Course Designs in
Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University
This form aims to receive your evaluation and reflection on the practice of the constructivist
approach in your online course based on the handbook’s guideline. In other words, this form aims
to receive your evaluation and reflection on the efficiency of the work-based research project.
1. Are you satisfied to be involved in this work-based project, do you believe that it is sufficient
to develop institutional working practice and online course design based on constructivist
approach?
………….Yes ……………No
2. Could you report the beneficial outcomes of the research for institutional development?
3. Could you state the contributions of the action research process to your professional
knowledge and experience?
4. What are the benefits of the constructivist pedagogy to your students and you as online tutor?
209
APPENDIX M
ABBREVIATIONS
EMU- Eastern Mediterranean University
EUA- European Universities Association
DProf- Doctorate of Professional Studies
210
EVIDENCES OF ACHIEVEMENT
211
LIST OF EVIDENCES
Handbook
Conference Participation
Published Paper
Press Releases
Official Letters
Certificate of Participants